My Creative Corner

Gorjuss....Closest to my heart

2012-01-27T18:57:00.001-08:00

Missing you

2012-01-27T14:42:00.000-08:00

Gorjuss tag....Memory... Snag only

2012-01-27T14:16:00.000-08:00

HAPPY 22nd BIRTHDAY Kate! Venting, remembering, and tons of pictures

2011-11-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. This entry is going to be bittersweet. In 7 hours my baby sister would have turned 22 years old. So on her 22nd birthday being celebrated from heaven, we here will be remembering the 4 month anniversary of her death.

It is SO hard for me not be angry not so much at her anymore, but her addiction. The pills. The damn pills!

Tomorrow I am going to buy a cute little pink Christmas tree and bring it to her and visit her grave for awhile. There are a lot of wreaths there I noticed on Thanksgiving. And anyone who knew my sister knows she isn't a wreath type of girl. A bright pink tree is more fitting ;)

My mother did end up back in treatment. I made the call, and had the police go pick her up. I tried to give her chance after chance. I even fought for her to stay home a couple weeks after my sister passed away. I went before our tribal judge and plead her case. That treatment was not what she needed, family was. But once I started getting calls that she was falling f
requently, she was passing out in random spots, ect. I had to have her put back in treatment.

She sat in detox for 3 weeks, while we figured out where to send her. While she sat in detox I found out from her Neurologist that her most recent MRI had shown damage to her Myelin Sheath. Which is the protective covering that protects the nerve cells. She has damage in her brain, and spine. So after finding that out, we wanted to find out the severity of the damage. Where her cognitive levels were at. So on the 1st of this month she had a 6 hour Neuro Pysch test done. The next day she was drove to South Dakota to a treatment that has a Native based program.

Originally she was supposed to be drove by me to this test, then also the next day to South Dakota. Her CD counselor from our tribe stepped in and told me I NEEDED to step back and take a break and let them handle it. Of course my mom was pissed, because she wasn't able to get her hair and nails done, ect! (you know the important stuff) But I had been sick for weeks. And still actually am getting over it 6 weeks later.

I do not believe after talking to her counselor, that my mom will for one ever get 100 percent sober. But also ever really appreciate what I have done for her my whole life. Which is act as her mother, versus her acting like mine. I have forgiven so much over the years, or turned a blind eye in order to love her unconditionally. Her counselor said that she didn't know if she had ever met someone who felt such a sense of entitlement before.

My mom does not call me ever to simply see how I am doing, or her grand kids. It doesn't matter if she is in treatment or out. She only calls drunk, when she needs something, when she feels her sky is falling, ect. For my physical, emotional, and just overall well being. I have realized that I honestly no longer can be who I am in my moms life.

My mother has been in over 20 treatments in my life. I am 36! Yet to this day my mom will not admit she is an "alcoholic" she calls herself a situational drinker! Ironically, there is ALWAYS a situation! When she gets caught drinking she will admit to the people like her counselors she had a "slip up". This last time when she was in detox. I drove there 5 times. It took me 6 hours each time there and back. I tried to explain to her that YOU ARE NOT having slip ups! Slip ups are someone who is sober for a year, and has a bad night. Then sobers up, admits it and continues to be sober. NOT, someone who drinks 5 out of 7 days a week. Not someone who falls all the time, not someone who gets completely taken advantage of every time she turns around, not someone who lies all the time to cover up their drinking, not someone who............OKAY, well you get the point. I gave her a list of reasons. She just looks at me with this blank look.

I lost my sister to an addiction to pills. There is a good chance I will lose my mother to her addiction, alcohol. But I have done all I can do. She is almost 60 years old. I would like to think that she is not hopeless, but history shows she will never change. History shows, things she has done over the years that absolutely should have been her rock bottom and weren't, would show she doesn't have a rock bottom. Other than the absolute worse.

I asked and told her I wanted to participate in the family meeting at the treatment she is at. It was on the 21-22nd this month. When talking to her counselor, she told me she didn't add me to the list. So she couldn't set it up. While preparing to go this couple day thing. I dug way back and began printing things I have either wrote to her, or to myself in journal entries over the years to bring. Because I am finally at a point, I am ready to confront her with all of it! I so sick and tired of her "working" programs. And not being totally honest about how her drinking has affected everyone in her life. But now I will not have that opportunity, because she didn't add my name to the list!?

I found a couple poems on my external hard drive that I wrote just over a year ago. When my mom and sister both sat in treatment again. One for my sister. One for my mom.

My moms...........

I called it "Just a Title"

Just a title
Nothing more
I am sorry to say
We have no rapport

Better this way
Than playing pretend
This is the way I have come to contend

Just a title
Nothing more
I'm finally able to close the door

You did this yourself
All on your own
I cannot imagine your going to like feeling alone

I have tried to much
Now I am tired of holding the clutch

Just a title
Nothing more
Is what I have decided for

You made your choice
Now you must lie
Now I see your chosen side

Just a title
Nothing more
"Mother" now I shut the door

I obviously have already been at a point, I was ready to walk away. But when I wrote this and a VERY long letter to her. My sister overdosed the first time the same week. So they got put on my external hard drive and have sat there since.

This one was wrote to my sister the same night.........

Why are you doing this, ruining your life?
The only thing you've accomplished is causing stress & strife
We're all trying to help you with this hard and trying time
But you think we're crazy, it's all in your mind
I miss the way it used to be, just a few years ago
Because of the pills you've changed for the worse & the reason I do not know
I worry about you each day and every night
But I can't protect you, I can't fight your fights
I'm your sister, flesh & blood, and I really do care
But I'm only human, all these burdens I cannot bear
I want you to grow up, grow up & be a woman
You're 21 but want us to hold your hand
Sister it's not to late to put your life on track
Do it for you, but also for us, we need you, and that's a fact
At night when I lay down, for you I silently pray
That would keep you on earth & not take your life away
It's hard for me because I have to stay strong
I'm always more worried about you and mom. She doesn't ever seem to care what you or her did wrong
I'll do you a favor, but only for your sake
I'll keep love and supporting you praying for your life, that the pills don't take
I love you, I do! But I can't go on believing lies
I'll help you best I can & at night cry tearless cries

I wrote this for my sister after she overdosed, and I found out she tried to have pills brought to her in the hospital after the overdose. The week that she overdosed, I was so completely and utterly tired of both hers and my moms addictions!!!

I still remember when my sister was born. She wasn't born into an easy life. Actually her, my brother and myself have not had an easy life. If we told all of our stories I think some people would say "that cannot possibly have happened to all of you!". But the thing is we have known nothing, but the life we were handed. And all chose to deal with it in separate ways.

When my sister was very young I spent a lot of time taking care of her, due to my moms drinking. I would have her for a week, sometimes weeks at a time. Her whole life was spent that way. I was the loving, nurturing, reliable one to always be there. Not to spoil her, and turn a blind eye. But to tell her I loved her, to hold her, to kiss her, to tuck her in at night, to do everything in my power to protect her from the abuse she dealt with, to tell her and not sugar coat things when she was doing something wrong, to never fear her getting mad at me by doing so because she knew no matter what I would always love her and be there for her.

She was such a sweetheart as a child! Scorned in many ways, had it rough. But always loved SO much and always had this huge heart! As she turned into a teenager herself, from the very first time she drank or used drugs. She felt it helped numb her pain. It made it easier for her to deal with things that were out of her control. Eventually her addiction took over so strongly, that she couldn't even feel normal without her pills.

That is what has always made it so hard for me. I understand why she made the choices she did. I just wish she would have used her strength and fought with everything in her to find a way to overcome and let go of the things she had no control over. I did that as a teenager. If I hadn't I probably would have been in the same boat she was.

At one point in her life, my mom called me when she was 14 and told me she wanted to give me custody of her. I went and got her. I made a bedroom in my house for her, enrolled her in school. She had the same rules my other children did. She loved the full time love, and knowing that I would never be drunk when she needed me! BUT, she decided to smoke weed. My hubby and I caught her and she obviously got grounded and had consequences to pay because of her actions. She was upset. She went back to my moms and never came back. I should have fought for her. Instead, I was so disgusted by my moms "blind eye" and the way that both of them were being, that I stepped away for quite some time.

Until one day when my mom was in the hospital. Her and Kate had came home from Jamaica and my mom got admitted into the hospital right away very sick with an infection. My brother and his ex wife called my moms and talked to Kate. After talking to her. They called my hubby and I and said Kate didn't sound right at all. So after stepping away for about 6 months, I decided to head to there to see what was going on. What we walked into appalled me! It disgusted me, it saddened me, it pissed me off beyond belief!!! When we walked in my moms house was TRASHED and when I say trashed I mean trashed! Her and 3 friends were sitting in the kitchen at the table with a plate of cocaine. Lines chopped. She had been on a few day binge.

We kicked her friends out. And gave her 2 choices. Come home with us, or we were calling the police. We dumped the coke down the drain. At first she agreed to come with us. But then she freaked out. Started throwing stuff, cussing, ect. My hubby went up into the bathroom where she was freaking out and my sister fell into his arms crying. He held her and let her cry. She was so high, hadn't slept for days.

Once he let her go and I came upstairs she again freaked out and started throwing stuff. I ended up calling the police. I had them take her to detox at the same hospital my mom was at. I had to drive there and after no speaking to my mom or seeing her in 6 months. Wake her up at close to 3am to tell her what was going on. She said to, I will never forget "I had NO idea!". I shook my head and went back to her house to clean. If it tells you anything, the house was so nasty that when they brought the police dog in to find drugs, ect. The dog couldn't even do his job. He was confused by the mess.

It took myself, my sister in law, my hubby, and 2 other friends all day to clean the house! We took out garbage bags, upon garbage bags of trash. Empty liquor bottles, bloody tissues, towels, socks. From their nose bleeds.

BUT, what really killed me was my mom saying I had no idea! My sisters bedroom walls were COVERED, literally covered top to bottom with her and her friends writings and drawings. When they did drugs they would put their names, the drug they used, the amount, ect. YET, my mom had NO idea!!!????

I had my sister taken to to treatment in Oklahoma. My mom sort of followed my lead like a child herself. That was the beginning of Kate's addiction to drugs, and really the beginning of the end.

So now years later looking back, and my sister being gone because of her addiction. It is so hard for me not to really tell my mom how I feel. How she contributed to her addiction, how many mistakes she made and so many different ways. It is hard for me not to blame myself for not fighting for her. For not getting custody and not backing down on not letting her go home ever.

But I cannot do that, I know I can't! I had to accept that I had done what I could a year ago. I had to accept, that I could not help 2 people that didn't want help. I had to accept that it was very possible I would lose them both to drugs and alcohol. Which I did. But again, it doesn't make the hurt or anger any less!

This entry ended up me venting, remembering back to the very beginning of my sisters life. But either way the bottom line is I always loved her. I will never stop loving her! I really wish things would have turned out differently!

TONS of pictures below.................... ;)

I want to celebrate my sisters good qualities, even the ones that were annoying but made her "her" ;) So I am going to add pics as a tribute to her now............

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL BABY SISTER! I LOVE YOU! I MISS YOU! I WISH YOU WERE HERE CELEBRATING WITH ALL OF US!!!!!

Halloween Gorjuss tag. SNAG only

2011-10-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Sad long overdue update........

2011-10-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Long time no write! So much has happened in my life since I last wrote. Every time I think life may be calming down, NOPE, WRONG! Something else is thrown on my plate.

How ironic as I was typing that 2 hours ago, I got a phone call of some more drama I had to hear about and deal with!

I will start with my saddest news. I know those of you read my blog, or used to read my journal. Have read about my venting of my youngest sisters drug abuse. She has been in treatment more than out in the last 3 years. Every time she gets to come home, she ended up back in another treatment within a few weeks. She also has been kicked out of 3 treatments for being caught buying and taking pills there.

Last November a week before her 21st birthday. Her fiance called me at 2:30 AM. He said "something is wrong with your sister". I said "what do you mean?". As I was asking I could hear her gasping for air. He said she was sleeping and he couldn't wake her up. She continued to gasp for air. He tried everything he could to wake her. She wouldn't wake. I told him to turn the lights on and check her fingers and toes. I asked him what color they were? He said they were blue. I told him call an ambulance now, she is overdosing. He grabbed her cell phone and called while I didn't even bother getting dressed. I threw a long winter coat on over my pajamas, called my brother and told him what was going on from my home phone. I was on the phone while the 911 operator instructed her fiance to give her CPR until the ambulance arrived. I stayed on the phone the whole way there. I picked my brother up. When the ambulance arrived, I could hear them say she had no pulse. They rushed her to the hospital. I picked my brother up and we headed down to the cities where they had taken her. We were clueless when we got there. We both were prepared to be told that we lost her. They had her in a ICU, stablizing room. We sat for about 2 hours before being told anything.

My mother was in a halfway house when this happened herself. It took me over an hour of calling different numbers to finally get a nighttime nurse to wake her so I could tell her what was going on. They allowed her to be picked up and come to the hospital.

2 hours later the doctor came out and said they were able to get her heart started again. She was going to be okay. But we wouldn't know if she had done any damage to anything for a couple days. They said the next 72 hours would be critical. She was in and out of it for those for 3 days. When she was able to talk. She said to us "I only took 24 pills"!!!????

A few days later they did an Angiogram of her heart. She had done damage. She had Cardiomyopathy. She also damaged her liver some. Our tribe already had her on a involuntary commitment. So one day before her 21st birthday they moved her from the ICU to the mental health unit of the hospital. With plans to hold her there, until she could be placed in another treatment. We found a dual recovery program in California. The day she was going to be flying out there, I picked her up and drove her to the airport.

She made it there about 4 weeks and all the sudden I didn't hear from her for 4 days. I knew something had happened. My sister had signed papers in the hospital that I was authorized to make medical decisions for her, and also get information about anything, any time. So I called the treatment and found out they caught her using and she was in detox and being flown home in 2 days. Because she got kicked out. So she flew home. The police, myself, and a CD counselor from out tribe met her at the airport. The police transported her to a detox until they could find another treatment for her.

They found a program in Alexandria a few hours from the cities. She spent almost 9 months there. I prayed that her rock bottom would have been dying, and being revived.

She got out of that treatment in early July. Her 2nd day home my daughter and I went to her house to help her clean and get her bedroom organized. I could tell she was going out of her mind wanting to use. So we stayed late and tried to just keep her preoccupied. When we left there at 3am. I told my husband when I got home. I give her 3 weeks tops for another overdose.

Well exactly 20 days later (one day short of my prediction). I got another call from Adam at around 4pm. The call that I have prayed with every inch of my soul I would never get. I prayed she would fight with everything in her to beat her addiction. This time the call was different. I answered.

"Hello"
"Crying is all I heard"
"Hello? Who is this?"
"She is gone"
"WHAT! WHO IS GONE!?"
"Kate, she is gone"
"silence"

I screamed for my husband, threw my cell phone across my yard. He came running and took the phone. My daughter was in the shower, my other daughter was at home. Bill told Rayanna she needed to come talk to me when she got out a few minutes later. I told her "hunny Kate is gone". We both had just showered. So we got dressed. I called my mom and brother and told them. My brother came to my house shortly after. The medical examiner, police, crime unit, ect were all already at her house.

We all headed there. I had a longtime family friend pick my mother up and meet us there. When we arrived we were all asked to stay in the living room or outside. She had went to sleep at 11 the night before and she just never woke up again. Her fiance tried to wake her at around 11:30, but she always slept with the blankets over her head. She didn't wake, so he just laid down and took a nap with her. Around 4 he tried again. When he removed the blanket her hand was locked onto it. He knew she was gone.

They only allowed my mother and I to go up to her bedroom to see her before the coroner took her away. Even though I have known and even predicted this was going to happen. It sure didn't make it hurt any worse! I wanted her to wake up, I wanted my baby sister/child back!

From that day on things seemed to go in fast motion. It all happened so quickly that I didn't have a minute to catch my breath. She died July 28th. Of a drug overdose. We later found out it was almost the exact same quantities and pills she overdosed on the previous fall. We decided to have a traditional Native funeral for her. Within 4 days it was all planned. We all stuck together through the whole thing. Then on July 31st we went and checked into 4 rooms at the casino. Across the street from the community building we were holding her wake/funeral. From start to finish it was 28 hours long. At 2pm on the 1st we all met down at a parking lot of the Tipsy Turtle. The hearse brought her casket. We had drummers in the lead in a truck, playing. It was a cloudy, drizzly day. We invited only closest friends and family to be a part of this. We all walked her body a mile to the building her wake and funeral were being held. Once we got in, there was more drums, and a service. We had cooks hired who fed everyone the whole time. There was SO much food! A lot of people also dropped dishes off from our community. We had a couple other services that day. With more drummers, and also a singer. Flowers kept coming, and coming. At 5pm we opened the wake to anyone else who wanted to come. So many people started showing up.

Finally at around 10 pm all that was left was immediate family, and close friends. Part of Native tradition is that her body was never allowed to be alone. It was an open casket the whole time. So no matter what my brother, mother or myself had to be in the room with her.

My mom slept about 4 hours on the stage above her casket. I couldn't sleep. So my hubby, me, her fiance, and my daughter Amanda all sat up with her all night long. We all just pulled our chairs close to her casket and talked, and cried.

The next morning it started all over again. A huge breakfast was served. And about 150 people showed up. Her funeral service was at 2pm. It lasted about an hour and a half. When given the chance for people to speak. SO many people came and talked about they wouldn't be who they were today, if it weren't for my sister. If she only knew and embraced HOW MANY people loved her so deeply! After the funeral service. We had the final viewing. Everyone else went first. We stayed seated. We then got hugs from all of the people there. That actually was the 3rd time we had that line of hugs, and kisses, and condolences. We then as her family had our chance for our final viewing. It hurt so bad when they finally closed her casket, after it being open for 28 hours. It might sound strange to some of you. But I would have happily sat there with her as long as I could. It became so real when they closed the casket. We then had another walk of about a mile long. All 150 of us walked again with the drummers in front, flag holders, us in the front to her resting spot. Again, it was windy, drizzling, and almost storming but not quite. My sister loved thunderstorms!

They had a beautiful tent set up with seats for her immediate family to sit at during the final service. We then had another line up of hugs, ect outside at the cemetery. Then we all dropped a handful of dirt and a rose into her grave. And they lowered her casket in the ground. It hurt SO BAD! I have always been more of a mother to my sister. More so than a sister. I couldn't breath. My heart hurt so deeply. That was it, I will never see her here on earth again.

We all walked back to the community center where a huge feast was ready and waiting. We then had one last ceremony. We paid the drummers, cooks, and couple who made fresh fry bread through out the whole thing. We also presented star quilts to all of the pall bearers. We then distributed the trees, flowers, and plants to the elders. And it was time to pack up, head back to the hotel and pack up there and head home.

In 5 days time I slept a total of 4 hours. I was beyond exhausted. I had gotten sick a few times.

All responsibilities fell on my shoulders. I am still closing her estate out. Greediness of course came into place from her son's father before she was even buried. I had to hire an attorney to protect her assets. We have already had 2 hearings and the 3rd will be in November. Bottom line, his greediness didn't win. Some people do not understand Tribal laws and tribal beliefs are very sacred, and cannot be altered.

I knew I would hurt for a long time. I just wonder when it stops hurting more everyday, then less?? I get angry, then sad, and in the mean time. I have to make sure that everyone else is taking care of themselves also. My mother being an alcoholic. Did amazing the first couple weeks. But it has been rocky since then. I think she is very close to ending back up in treatment herself.

I thought I had time to write so much more tonight. But just ran out of energy. I am going to try to start writing more here again to help myself free my mind sometimes when I need to. I hope everyone is doing good!

Love & Hugs

Gorjuss tag..Make a wish....

2011-06-13T13:35:00.001-07:00

New Gorjuss tag

2011-06-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

New Gorjuss tag Snag only Blossom & Bloom

2011-02-27T22:13:00.000-08:00

New Gorjuss girl tag offer

2011-02-15T20:55:00.001-08:00

Gorjuss spring. SNAG only

2011-02-12T22:44:00.000-08:00

Gorjuss Valentine's tag, SNAG only

2011-02-12T21:54:00.000-08:00

Time to decorate for Christmas :)

2010-11-29T23:11:00.001-08:00

Not really doing an entry. Just wanted to get in the mood for the holidays here ;) I will make plenty of entries, and share tons of pictures over the next month.

Hugs & Love,
Robyn

Check out my cousins page

2010-11-23T00:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. I wanted to share a link to my cousins blog. She is young still and created a blog. It was simple and blah so I helped her spice it up ;) Go check it out and say hello if you would. She is so crafty and creative!

http://emersynscrafts.blogspot.com/

Thanks to you all who stop by and say hi to her. :)

Hugs, Robyn

Checking in

2010-11-12T09:31:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone. I was just sitting her relaxing and decided it was about time to post an entry here.

Life has been busy as usual.

My sister was put back into rehab about a month ago. And 3 days later my mom was picked up and recommitted into a half-way house.

This is 2 times in a row that the 2 of them have been in separate treatments at the same time in the last 5 months.

Last time my mom was gone for 2 months. This time she will be gone for 3. My sister is going to be discharged on the 22nd of this month, my mom will be home January 6th. Thinking back this is my mothers 3rd year in a row in treatment during the holidays.

It might sound terrible, but it is relieving to me when they are both in treatments. It is quieter. It is calmer. My life is less stressful.

I pray for my sister that she can get a grip on life and learn how to live it sober. She is going to be 21 years old on the 28th of this month. She has one of the most severe addictions to Opiates that any of her doctors in any hospital or treatment she has been in have ever seen.

When she went into the hospital this last time she was taking 24 of the strongest Percocets a day. From what I have heard and read. Even patients with severe pain, and cancer patients are not prescribed more than 6 in a 24 hour period. The treatment she was at in California the time before this said he could not believe she hadn't overdosed by her levels when she was put in detox. Well technically they do not detox her the way they would someone with an alcohol addiction. She has to be in a hospital setting, being monitored closely because her withdrawals are so severe. Before the Percocet she was taking Oxy's.

Sadly she used to a beautiful person inside and out. She has turned into anything but! Her attitude towards life and people in general suck! She has gained SO much weight. Which I can only imagine is hardest on her considering how young she still is.

I feel like both my mother and her know how to "work" a program. God knows they have been in enough of them!

I hope my sister finds her way in life. My mother on the hand........ I think unfortunately enough has happened that should have been her rock bottom and none of it has made her stop drinking. I would love to be wrong, I would love for her to live a sober life. But I honestly have put so much energy and effort into her life, and her sobriety to be let down that I just have to let her live her life. I have stepped away and stopped using all of my energy into her life.

Being Diabetic now. I honestly cannot handle it anymore. With so much other stuff going on, you throw my mom and sister into the mix and it is not uncommon for me to have to spend a full day in bed out of pure exhaustion from the stress!

It is not fair to my kids and husband. I cannot allow their addictions to affect me anymore.

Enough about them.

I posted 2 recent pictures of Joshua and Rayanna. It is hard to believe how big they are getting. It is even harder for me to believe that Rayanna will be starting drivers ed next fall! She is doing awesome in school as usual. Getting A's. She was in Schoolball/Volleyball which ended a couple weeks ago. She started basketball the next week. And will be starting JO Volleyball next month. She is busy, busy, busy! The only day of the week she doesn't need a ride to or from or multiple rides is Saturday.

She also has started going to a youth group at a church about 5 miles from our house. Friday before Halloween her and a friend went for the Halloween party they held and did the face painting. Tonight she is going to help get Thanksgiving meals ready to be delivered to families who need them.

She is 14 years old and entering new phases of her life. Which is to be expected. But she really is an awesome girl with a heart of gold!

She has decided that next year in high school for 9th and 10th grade she will be taking extra classes so that in her Junior year she can start taking her basic college courses at a college of her choice. She wants to go to medical school. So she decided getting the first 2 years done while still in high school would help her some.

She has big dreams and goals. And every single one of them are right there within her reach if she stays focused!

Josh is doing good also. He was not moved on into middle school this year. They kept him in the Special Education program at the same school he has been at for 2 years. They did not feel he was ready to be moved. We agreed.

As far as progress in a school setting goes. There isn't much. He does get into the "routine" daily there. But has his really good days, then he has his really bad days.

Recently he has started liking watching sports. All kinds of sports on TV's in our house. He will round up all 3 remotes for each TV and literally turn them all on. It isn't uncommon to go upstairs and have to turn them off or down. He will have football playing in his bedroom, volleyball in the living room, and racing in our bedroom. Going back and forth watching them all. I am always like "dude 1 TV is plenty!". ha ha

I think he likes watching the action of them all.

Tomorrow evening we are taking the kids downtown Minneapolis to go the Monster Truck Show. It is supposed to snow 4-6 inches but that is ok. One year it was 20 below when we went and we just bundled up. I am hoping that Josh loves it this year because for a few years we weren't able to bring him because there are just way to many people there! He gets overly stimulated easily. So we are trying again this year, now that he is showing so much interest in sports. I am crossing my fingers it goes smoothly ;) We are also bringing my niece with us.

I am SO proud of my hubby also. He finished his first year back in college with an A average. He has 3 years left. He gets overwhelmed, but keeps going.

One thing he didn't realize when he enrolled in this school was that each 5 week class is based on teams. He has been teamed with a few slackers repeatedly and feels like he has to play daddy to them because they are younger. And feels he has to pull their weight along with his own. Because they graded as a team.

That aspect of it sucks for him. He considered quitting one class because it truly was unfair how much weight he had to pull for the team as a whole. But he didn't and I am happy for him that he didn't. He would have regretted it!

I threw some chicken breasts in the crock pot a couple hours ago with some onions, celery, lemon pepper, cream of chicken soup, and cream of celery soup. They will be so tender and good at dinner time. I will probably just make some baked potatoes to go with them and fresh cauliflower with cheese. Rayanna does not like the prepackaged, frozen cauliflower or broccoli. She likes it when I buy heads of each and steam them. Who can blame her? I agree :)

I love crock pot cooking. It is so simple. Toss some stuff in it and let it cook all day.

We halted the finishing of our basement until Spring. Our new dog is not fully potty trained yet. He really is dumb as a box of rocks most of the time. He is a work in progress! I was afraid with him still having accidents in the basement of having brand new carpet laid and getting soiled. At least right now we have cement and area rugs that are easy to clean. Once the pad, and carpet get laid that is a different story.

An insurance adjuster is going to be out here sometime in the next week to check out the damage we had over the summer from all the crazy storms and wind. We lost siding more than once. This last time a couple weeks ago we had 50 mile an hour wind and things were blowing all over the place. One time my daughter and I looked outside we saw at least 6 pieces of siding blowing around our yard. She was about to run out and grab it! I yelled at to get back in the house. The way that siding was blowing around I didn't want her to get hit in the head with it.

We thought for sure when the sun came up that we were going to have tons of siding missing. 3 cities (including ours) lost power. Roads were being blocked and closed by police due to no power, and trees down. But when the sun came up we were surprised to find out most of the siding we saw that night wasn't ours. We had light sage green pieces in our drive way and yard. Our house is beige. It belonged to a neighbor 2 doors down.

Well I am going to wrap this up and go shower and run some errands before the kids get home from school.

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Robyn

2 new Serenity Prayer tags............(Snag only)

2010-11-06T04:51:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treat. Snag only

2010-10-29T16:26:00.001-07:00

Gorjuss Halloween tag. Snag only

2010-10-29T15:37:00.000-07:00

New Tag offer.....Shake your Groove thing......

2010-10-05T21:21:00.001-07:00

Link to my other blog .....

2010-09-21T03:38:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. I am going to start blogging on both of my blogs again. For any of you who don't follow my other blog please go check it out ;)

http://tipstonaturalhealing.blogspot.com/

New Tag......Gorjuss makes me happy

2010-07-26T23:34:00.001-07:00

Long time, no write!

2010-07-26T18:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Long time no write. I noticed another friend of mine today said she was going to write in her blog and figured I should pop over here and do the same. I redid my page, I added new pictures to my sidebar, and redecorated :)

I hope everyone is doing good, and also hope I still have some readers here. I have been AFK for quite some time now!

Alot has been going on. Alot has happened. I couldn't possibly catch you all up in one blog entry.

I think alot of you that do read my blog also are friends on Facebook. But I do miss the writing part of it. The actually journaling/blogging.

This summer is flying by! I cannot believe it is almost half way over. We have had some crazy weather here in Minnesota this summer. We had a tornado touch down in our back yard and I thought for sure our house was going to fly away like in The Wizard of Oz! Thank god it didn't. We lost some siding, as did most of our neighbors. But it could have been alot worse!

One really exciting thing going on right now is we are in the beginning stages of finishing our basement. We will have a huge family room, my daughter will be getting a huge new bedroom, we will have one more bathroom, and a really nice laundry/utility room. First stage is adding the electrical we need to on the other side of the basement. Then we will be building a few walls out. Then comes the sheet rock and drywall and painting. In a couple weeks we will start packing everything up down here and storing it in the garage until it is all done. There will be some stuff that will be gotten rid of for sure.

We have also been busy redecorating upstairs. We bought 2 new ceiling fans that look so much nicer than the plain white ones that were here since we moved in. We painted our master bathroom a dark blue. We also painted an accent wall in our stairwell/living room that matches the new red sectional we bought. I have also bought some new art and had it framed. Also got some new stuff for the kids rooms. All in all it is all coming together and looks great!

We were going to rent the same cabin again this summer. But with so much going on we decided at the last minute not to. I was a little bummed, but it would have been just to much driving back and forth!

My hubby went back to college 6 months ago. He is going for a degree in Criminal Justice. He will graduate in 3 and half years. So with him back in school he needed to be home more than last summer. It's funny in a few weeks we will celebrate our 14 year anniversary. He has never had a cell phone, or laptop. He never wanted one. A few days ago I went and bought him a brand new laptop, and got him a cell phone. I told him "welcome to the modern age!".

My home computer crashed awhile back. So I had to buy a new one for myself also. I love it! My Blackberry also crapped out on me this week. So I bought the new Blackberry Bold in pearl white with the leather backing. I LOVE it!

My daughter Rayanna bought herself a new cell also with her grade money. We have upgraded a ton of electronics here in the last month. She also started her volleyball camp today. She will go all of this week each day.

She is entering a new stage of life and it has been VERY trying some days. I think she is back on the right track and really hope she stays there! Can you say boys, boys, boys.................. In the big picture it could be a whole lot worse. But because I was so used to her being so good so to speak. It side swiped me when I found out a few things that were going on! I do remember being her age still, which helps lol

My daughter Amanda is home. She was living with us for awhile. She stayed with us while she got back on her feet. She got a job, did everything she needed to do. And now is in her own apartment about 5 minutes from us with our grandson. Her boyfriend from California also moved here a couple months ago. She turned 21 in April and is doing awesome!

My daughter Lexi went to Europe for 3 weeks this summer. She had a blast! She came home 2 days before our pow wow and was crowned Junior Princess on our reservation. She also danced in the pow wow.

Joshua is doing really good. But is a handful almost always now! I can only imagine how frustrating it is for him at 11 years old to not be able to talk to us. So he gets very frustrated and physical. We take it a day at a time with him.

My stepson Tyler turned 17 a couple weeks ago. He has his permit and will be driving soon. Crazy! He was here on his birthday and got spoiled like the rest of them lol. He also just had his one year anniversary with his girlfriend. Which is pretty good considering his age ;) He is very much like his dad when it comes to relationships. He isn't a player like so many his age. He is a great kid.

We also got a new puppy. His name is Titan and he is a MONSTER! I am pretty sure we have tried every thing we know to try to get him to stop going to the bathroom in the house. And it just doesn't seem to matter. Even if he was just walked, just outside with one of us, or on his tie out. He will come in and immediately go pee and poop. We have a lot of patience and he is just about done us in! I keep praying by the time the carpet gets laid in the basement he will be trained. I would hate for the basement to be finished and brand new for him to continue going to to the bathroom the way he has been.

Well I am going to run for now. Josh and I are going to get Chipotle for dinner :) We are the only ones home until about 10.

If anyone else is still writing please leave me a comment and let me know :)

Love & Hugs!
Robyn

New Gorjuss tag.....Snow

2009-12-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

New tag.... Got attitude?

2009-11-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

New tag..... It's the weekend

2009-11-06T21:35:00.000-08:00

Kreativ Blogger Award

2009-11-05T20:52:00.000-08:00

Beverly from http://flying-cupcakes.blogspot.com/2009/11/ms-kreativ.html nominated me for this super cute award for Thank you VERY much Beverly for not only stopping by, but also for this cute award ;)

Now it’s my turn to pass this little beauty around, but first the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave this to you.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.
5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know that you nominated them.

Now it's my turn to pick 7 things I think no one would really know about me... This is hard because when I am blogging on a regular basis I am pretty much an open book haha.

1. I LOVE to sing. I sing in the car, I blast music still like my kids and sing when cleaning, cooking, in the shower. I am not all that great of singer, but love music ;)

2. My husband colors and cuts my hair for me ;)

3. I do NOT allow my kids to say jesus, god, or shut up. All three of them do not need to be used by kids or adults in my eyes. We made a funny saying for shut up years ago when all my kids were younger. Instead of telling each other to shut up they say sock puppet lol

4. I am going to get a tattoo of a dreamcatcher with all of my kid's names entwined in the webbing some time sooner than later.

5. I have the hardest job around! A homemaker ;) I am a mother, a friend, a lover, a confidant, trustee, shopper, driver, shoulder, hugger, booger getter, diaper changer, complimenter (is that a word? or spelled right?), cleaner, cook, game player, yard mower, garbage taker outer, garage cleaner, car cleaner, hmmmm I really could go on and on but I think I made my point :)

6. I LOVE doing different type of crafting things. I recently started making trendy rag dolls. Here is a picture of the beginning of one. NOW remember I am not a sewer lol. I just got this idea in my head one evening and ran to Walmart. Bought a bunch of random stuff and started cutting and hand sewing. If I can't sell them, I will probably donate them to shelters or something. This one is not done but I will show you what I am talking about.

7. I truly do think I have alot of answers what could make this world a better place. All I can do is be me, do the little things I can to make a difference. And wish and hope some other's do and feel the same. Or maybe that a little of what I do and give can give someone else the desire to follow lead!

And for this award I nominate:
1. Rhianna from http://impossiblethedream.blogspot.com/

2. Gerry from http://gerry-daughters-of-the-shadow-men.blogspot.com/

3. Donna from http://dsdesignsandotherthings.blogspot.com/

4. Alvia from http://admdesigns.blogspot.com/

5. Amy from http://amysaysmeh.blogspot.com/

6. Nelishia from http://nelishiawhittemore.blogspot.com/?zx=38e2a9a8984e890a

7. Sugar from http://sugarssweetspot.blogspot.com/

New Gorjuss tag..... Rain on your dreams

2009-10-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

New Halloween Gorjuss tag & Random pictures

2009-10-22T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Along with being sick and just busy in life. I also have not made many tags recently (or in like months is better worded!). I am going to try to start making them again.

Tonight I made another tie blanket for my daughter's baby sister Piper. It is super cute. Ray picked out the pattern and I made it.

I have been painting canvases instead of being online alot lately also. I found a bunch of really cute buttons on sale a few weeks ago and bought them. I had an idea to use them on my canvas. I have one done, about 8 to go. I also went to Joanne Fabric's and they had canvases of all sizes on sale for 50% off. Can't beat that! So I stocked up on them.

Here is a few I have finished. Because my basement is unfinished I just hang them all on the wall. I have a whole side of the basement set up specifically for crafting. Everything is organized and has a place. I am looking for a cheap bookshelf or cabinet though on Craigslist to house all my acrylic paints. Right now they are in plastic drawers and they are super hard to find specific colors easily.

When my kids paint pictures I am also going to hang those like I did the couple already there.

It has been really cold in MN already! In the 20's. Now this week it has warmed up a little bit. We had to rush to get our sprinklers blown out so they wouldn't freeze. I got our yard aerated, and seeded one last time but then was supposed to water the grass for 3 days before mowing one last time. Well neither got done, since the sprinklers got shut off. Oh well, there's always next spring. Our yard really looked awful when the snow melted this last Spring. We hired a company to come and do alot of work to it. Other than the 2 yards in our neighbourhood that had their's resodded. Our's looks pretty good. For some reason it is really hard to keep your grass looking good here. All things considered we are doing pretty good.

This entry ended up more pictures than actual writing. But I am going to post it and go run a bath. I hope you are all having a great week!

Hugs,
Robyn

Been a LONG time!

2009-10-20T20:29:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. I am just making a quick post to see if anyone is even still out there? If so I will probably come back and start blogging more again. I know most of us have moved over to Facebook. But I miss actually sharing pics, tags and stories of my life more in detail here. Versus just status updates on Facebook.

I hope you are all doing well. We have been extremely sick with H1N1, another strain of Influenza, and now Pneumonia in my household. I have lots to tell and will if my blog is still alive haha ;)

Hugs,

Robyn

New tag sexy

2009-06-17T18:20:00.001-07:00

Great story from a former soldier............

2009-06-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

New Direction for any war:
Send Service Vets over 60!

I am over 60 and the Armed Forces thinks I'm too old to track down terrorists. You can't be older than 42 to join the military. They've got the whole thing ass-backwards. Instead of sending 18-year olds off to fight, they ought to take us old guys. You shouldn't be able to join a military unit until you're at least 35.

For starters: Researchers say 18-year-olds think about sex every 10 seconds. Old guys only think about sex a couple of times a day, leaving us more than 28,000 additional seconds per day to concentrate on the enemy.

Young guys haven't lived long enough to be cranky, and a cranky soldier is a dangerous soldier. 'My back hurts! I can't sleep, I'm tired and hungry' We are impatient and maybe letting us kill some asshole that desperately deserves it will make us feel better and shut us up for a while.

An 18-year-old doesn't even like to get up before 10 a.m. Old guys always get up early to pee so what the hell. Besides, like I said, 'I'm tired and can't sleep and since I'm already up, I may as well be up killing some fanatical s-of-a-b....

If captured we couldn't spill the beans because we'd forget where we put them. In fact, name, rank, and serial number would be a real brainteaser.

Boot camp would be easier for old guys. We're used to getting screamed and yelled at and we're used to soft food. We've also developed an appreciation for guns. We've been using them for years as an excuse to get out of the house, away from the screaming and yelling.
They could lighten up on the obstacle course however. I've been in combat and didn't see a single 20-foot wall with rope hanging over the side, nor did I ever do any pushups after completing basic training.

Actually, the running part is kind of a waste of energy, too. I've never seen anyone outrun a bullet.

An 18-year-old has the whole world ahead of him. He's still learning to shave, to start up a conversation with a pretty girl. He still hasn't figured out that a baseball cap has a brim to shade his eyes, not the back of his head.

These are all great reasons to keep our kids at home to learn a little more about life before sending them off into harm's way.

Let us old guys track down those dirty rotten coward terrorists. The last thing an enemy would want to see is a couple of million pissed off old farts with attitudes and automatic weapons who know that their best years are already behind them.

***How about recruiting Women over 50 ...with PMS !!! You think Men have attitudes !!! Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my God!!!
If nothing else, put us on border patrol....we will have it secured the first night!
Share this with your senior friends. It's purposely in big type so they can read it.

We rented a cabin for all of June & July

2009-05-31T18:49:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone. Today my sister and I drove about 3 hours up North to look at a cabin in a private resort that the owner is renting out for the whole summer. It is super cute. So we took it. We signed the lease for the summer today and got the keys. Now we will have the cabin to come and go whenver we feel like getting away to relax, fish and play on the beach. I took a bunch of pictures so you could all see where I will be probably 3/4's of the summer ;) My sister also just bought a boat 2 days ago and will bring that up and keep it there. We have a two sided dock that is ours in the resort that is about a 5 minute walk from our cabin. There is also a indoor pool and sauna on grounds. I started making a list so that when we head up for the first time this Thursday coming we will have everything we need all summer. We were told by the owner that the lake has GREAT bass, walleye and sunfish fishing. I cannot wait for some fried fish! I hope everyone had a great weekend~ 4 more days and my kids are done with school for the year. This year has flown by!!

Hugs & Love,
Robyn

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Fluttering butterflies (Gorjuss)

2009-05-29T19:34:00.001-07:00

Love is giving.....(Gorjuss tag)

2009-05-23T21:03:00.000-07:00

Spent the last 3 days in Children's Hospital with Josh (pics)

2009-05-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

I took him out of his crib after being in it for quite some time and let him sit next to me on mine and daddy's comfy beds!

In his "jail" lol he was such a trooper though!

On his way to his lower brain stem MRI. Looking so happy, not knowing he would be sleeping in 20 minutes

Finally feeling a bit better and acting more like himself

Whenever nurses or doc's would come in he would look at them so concerned like "NOW what are you going to do to me??"

He will rip an IV out of his arm in a split second, so we had them put it in his foot this time. Then double taped it so when he yanked on it, it would not move. Then made this make shift sock with a washcloth. It worked great, he really didn't mess with it at all Hi guys Josh sure made the last few days interesting! Starting Friday, Josh came home from school Friday and I went to see what he was doing at 6:50. He was dead asleep in bed. We didn't think much of it. We figured he had a long day at school, so we let him sleep. Saturday came, he woke up later than normal and tried to take a couple naps thoughout that day also. Then again went to bed earlier than normal. We wondered if he was getting the flu or a cold. Hubby's son and a friend of Rayanna's were here for the weekend and on Sunday Josh woke up again really late. Around 11:30. He had breakfast, then had lunch at 2:30. At 2:45 he got up and went back into his room and tried to go back to sleep. Hubby got him up to come finish his lunch. We wondered if fresh air would do him some good so we took all the kids out back to play volleyball, frisbee and kickball. He was running around but kept sitting down for breaks. We came in the house awhile later to start grilling dinner. About 10 minutes after I started peeling potatoes I went to see what Josh was up to and he was asleep again.

We ate and had to drive Tyler and Ray's friend home so we decided to take him to Children's Hospital to be checked out because it is so unlike him to sleep the way he had been. We arrived there around 7:30 PM and went into the ER. We worry about inner Cranial pressure with him and have always known a shunt needing to be put in his head was a possibility. When we got to Children's and brought back his fever was about 103'. He layed down and went back to sleep again. While he was sleeping he started making these weird movements with his tongue, and his head started almost convulsing would be the best way to explain it. When the movement with his tongue started hubby went and grabbed the doc. The doctor watched the remainder of this happen and from the looks of his movements you would have thought he had just had a seizure. But he didn't. He was to responsive, even though he was lethargic.

They did blood work right away, and a CT, and a lung xray. This is where everything got so scary, and so familar from years before! His white blood count was off, implying he had some sort of viral infection going on. His sodium was very low. His blood pressure was extremely low. They said he had pneumonia in the bottom of his left lung, and said his left and right ventricles were extremely enlarged in the CT. Which would imply inner cranial pressure.

We already knew they would be admitting him. The ER doctor called the Neurology team and waited for a copy of a previous copy of an older CT to compare this new one to. For some reason the ER staff could not get their hands on a copy!?

Around 3:30 AM, the Neurologist came in and first said to us (With a hard copy CT in his hand) it was totally unacceptable that the ER staff hadn't located it before he got there. He said he woke a few people up but got his hands on it because we needed it period. That is where the relief came from. The Neurosurgeon told us they were enlarged, but that is normal for Josh. He told the hospital they needed to get a CD burned with these images because if we were ever to be somewhere, say up north and they would have seen these CT's they would have taken him in to shunt him immediately. So we were told they still wanted to admit him because of everything else going on, but it didn't need to be intensive care where they originally planned.

About 4:30 AM we got him into his room upstairs and settled. The strange this is his fever went from 103 to 94.3 in a couple hours period. He was so cold. His blood pressure was still pretty low when we got upstairs also. So around 6:00 AM after Josh was all tucked in, had his antibiotics started and was asleep. Dad and I layed down on our chairs next to him to try to sleep. We slept almost 2 hours, when the Neurosurgeon came back into our room and woke us up. He told us that him and a Chief doc and a few other's on the team had read all of Josh's old records and reviewed the CT's again and they believed that from something they saw on the CT's he had type 1 Chiari Malformation. We obviously woke up right away and they scheduled a sedated lower brain stem MRI as soon as they could. We were told if it were confirmed he had this, they would need to do a head surgery. We got downstairs to radiology around 11 and they had him alsleep a bit later.

He was brough back up to his room when the procedure's were done (they ran a couple other tests while he was alseep) and the waiting game began. It wasn't until this morning it was actually confirmed, they were wrong and he did not have it. So in a 24 hour period we were first told he had inner cranial pressure, to he had Chiari Malformation. All to be told in the end he had neither. THANK GOD! We were so relieved. We were also then told he didn't have pneumonia yesterday (Another thank god!) but man oh man were our emotions running high! He finally after 38 hours got to eat and he did great with it. He got to drink something after about 28 and was so happy because I am sure he was so thirsty!

So this morning they ran more blood work, his white blood cell count hadn't changed, but they had already treated him with some hefty antibiotics and told us we could go home. He was such a sweetheart being in the crib. He is 10, so he has not been in a crib for some time. But he doesn't understand to stay in a bed so we had to put him in one. He was great! He is feeling way better today, and we are home and happy ;)

It's been an exciting 3 days full of ups and downs and all arounds. But Josh is doing good and that is all that matters! Hubby and I are exhausted and it will be great to sleep in our own bed tonight that's for sure ;)

It is beautiful here in Minnesota today! Sun is shining, it is 89 degree's. Would be a perfect day to BBQ, if we weren't so exhausted!

I hope you are all doing good and having a good week!

Love & Hugs, Robyn

P.S I didn't spell check this so sorry for errors

Cute doll complete set

2009-05-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

Fun in the sun 2 new tag offers

2009-05-13T16:57:00.001-07:00

New Hello & hugs scroll set

2009-05-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Funny warnings.......... (seriously?? lol)

2009-05-08T22:36:00.000-07:00

The red is my little comments to some of these ;)

1. On a blanket from Taiwan -
NOT TO BE USED AS PROTECTION FROM A TORNADO.

If I were caught in a tornado, that is DEFINATELY what I would grab to protect myself!

2. On a helmet mounted mirror used by US cyclists -
REMEMBER, OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE ACTUALLY
BEHIND YOU.

3. On a Taiwanese shampoo -
USE REPEATEDLY FOR SEVERE DAMAGE.

4. In some countries, on the bottom of Coke bottles
OPEN OTHER END.

DUH! lol

5. On a New Zealand insect spray -
THIS PRODUCT NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS.

6. In a US guide to setting up a new computer -
TO AVOID CONDENSATION FORMING, ALLOW THE BOXES TO
WARM UP TO ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE OPENING.
(Sensible, but the instruction was INSIDE the box.)

Genius!

7. On a Japanese product used to relieve painful
haemorrhoids
LIE DOWN ON BED AND INSERT POSCOOL SLOWLY UP TO
THE PROJECTED PORTION LIKE A SWORD-GUARD INTO ANAL
DUCT. WHILE INSERTING POSCOOL FOR APPROXIMATELY 5
MINUTES, KEEP QUIET.

The hemmorhoid cream won't work unless quiet???

8. On the bottle-top of a British flavoured milk drink
AFTER OPENING, KEEP UPRIGHT.

9. On a packet of Sunmaid raisins -
WHY NOT TRY TOSSING OVER YOUR FAVOURITE BREAKFAST
CEREAL?

10. On a Sears hairdryer -
DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING.

OK I will make sure not to do that!

11. On a bag of Fritos -
YOU COULD BE A WINNER! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
DETAILS INSIDE.

12. On a bar of Dial soap -
DIRECTIONS - USE LIKE REGULAR SOAP.

versus what sandpaper??

13. On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom
of the box)-
DO NOT TURN UPSIDE DOWN.

14. On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding -
PRODUCT WILL BE HOT AFTER HEATING.

Damn, I thought it was going to be cold!

15. On a Korean kitchen knife -
WARNING KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN.

16. On a string of Chinese-made Christmas lights -
FOR INDOOR OR OUTDOOR USE ONLY.

17. On a Japanese food processor -
NOT TO BE USED FOR THE OTHER USE.

18. On Sainsbury's peanuts -
WARNING - CONTAINS NUTS.

19. On an American Airlines packet of nuts
INSTRUCTIONS - OPEN PACKET, EAT NUTS.

Dang they forget, chew nuts and swollow nuts!

20. On a Swedish chainsaw -
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO STOP CHAIN WITH YOUR
HANDS OR GENITALS.

Only if your superman!

21. On a child's superman costume -
WEARING OF THIS GARMENT DOES NOT ENABLE YOU TO FLY.

C'mon it's superman! Of COURSE I can fly. The 9 dollar costume gave me that ability!

22. On some frozen dinners
SERVING SUGGESTION DEFROST.

23. On a hotel provided shower cap in a box
FITS ONE HEAD.

Who is the lucky "one"??

24. On packaging for a Rowenta iron
DO NOT IRON CLOTHES ON BODY.

WOW!Is there honestly people out there that need that warning?

25. On Boot's "Children's" cough medicine
DO NOT DRIVE CAR OR OPERATE MACHINERY.

26. On Nytol sleep aid
WARNING MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS.

Mattress
Warning: Do not attempt to swallow

But damn I am hungry!

Matches
Caution: Contents may catch fire.

You don't say!?

Pepper Spray
Caution: Never aim spray at your own eyes.

Auto-Shade Widnshield Visor
Warning: Do not drive with sunshade in place. Remove from windshield before starting ignition.

Fix-a-Flat
WARNING: Do not weld can to rim.

Rain Gauge
Suitable for outdoor use.

RCA Television Remote Control
Not Dishwasher Safe

Who the hell puts their remote control in the dishwasher??

Pine Mountain Fire Logs
Caution: Risk of fire

Triops Fish Food
Warning: Not for human consumption

Home Depot Treated Lumber
Do not consume

Munching on some wood..........

Road Sign
Caution water on road during rain.

Who would have thunk it??

Camera
This camera will only work when film is inside.

Road Sign
Cemetery Road. Dead End

Church Parking Lot Sign
Thou shalt not park

Silk Soy Milk
Shake well and buy often

Air Conditioner
Caution: Avoid dropping air conditioners out of windows.

Slush Puppy Cup
This ice may be cold

Nabisco Easy Cheese
For best results, remove cap.

versus???

Swanson TV Dinners
This product must be cooked before eating.

Hershey's Almond Bar
Warning: May contain traces of nuts

JUST a trace? Then I want my money back!

Heinz Ketchup
Instructions: Put on food

and here I always thought you just ate it right out of the bottle!

Really do people need these instructions??? lol Hope you got a laugh outta these like I did!

second part of my update

2009-05-07T15:11:00.000-07:00

Now for the rest of the last couple weeks. It seems so many are using Facebook now, and less of blogger. Facebook is simple, but I sort of miss the longer entries of what's really going on in everyone's daily life! Not even sort of, I do. So I seem to spend more time at Facebook each day versus coming here and sitting down and writing a longer entry.

The weather here has been so back and forth! One day it is 80, the next it is 48. Air on during the day, then by nightfall we are freezing and need to turn the heat back on.

When we moved into this house, I had no idea what the yard would look like since there was still snow on the ground. It needs help! I was so frustrated with this lawn service I was trying to schedule a series of treatments with. Finally after over a week of trying to simply set up an appointment and complaining. The branch manager up here actually drove to our house personally and quoted us a price. Tomorrow will be our first treatment and I sure hope it helps. Dandilions have popped up all over and are spreading. They will be gone by this weekend I hope. We also need to fix our sprinkler system. There is a leak on the side of the house, and a couple of the heads are literally half under the edging of the house, so they will not pop up and flood the area instead of water it. No biggie though, they are easy fixes. But it does need to get fixed so I can water the grass after it starts getting treated.

My kids are doing good. Josh had a surgery 2 weeks ago to help his bloody noses. His Ear, Nose & Throat doc seems to think we will need to do this often because of the way his nasal passage is shaped from his disorder. The procedure is simple, but Josh didn't take it well at all. He was trying to rip his IV out of his arm, biting hubby and I, hitting us, pinching us, everything he could possibly think of to let us know he was NOT happy at all having to lay in that bed. The good news though, he hasn't had a bloody nose since we got home. He was getting them so badly and frequently that we were waking up in the middle of the night to him covered in blood and laying in it. It honestly was almost a nightly thing. Or it was nothing for him to just be sitting there and blood to start gushing out of his nose. So it is awesome the procedure helped to stop that! And nice to know that we can do it as needed. His ENT doc told us he was going to note his chart that we could just call anytime directly to the surgery center and make the appointment everytime he needed it done. Versus, going in for an appt. waiting to get scheduled, ect. This doc is so impressed with his team of doctor's he has had his whole life. He pretty much told us that he has had the very best of the best all around with everyone who has helped with his Cranial issues.

I bought 2 bar stools on Craigslist for super cheap not long after we moved in here. They were just not doing it for me so yesterday I went and bought new fabric and reupholstered them this afternoon. I love the new look because it is brighter and more colorful. I am not a beige type of person lol!

The first pic is the plain beige compared to the new fabric.

I haven't done a what's for dinner in a bit either. So I figured I would show Chicken Alfredo :)

Hugs & Love, Robyn

Lots to tell, broken heart missing my dog, it's been awhile!

2009-05-07T14:25:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone. It has been awhile since I have posted an entry or a new tag. I am still here just been very busy and also broken hearted.

Last Friday the 1st we were running errands pretty much all day and got home around 9:30 PM. My hubby's son was here for the weekend. We took him to get new glasses and contacts that evening and had dinner at the mall. When we got home we opened a new bag of Romeo's food and fed him, took him out to potty. He was acting totally normal. He was sticking his nose in all the bags we brought in wondering what we got for him (I swear he was worse than the kids!!). I was sick and realized I had forgotten to get cold medicine, so hubby and I took off around 11 to run back to Walmart to get some. While at Walmart, I decided to buy a new Sims game and got home to install it and broke the disc in half taking it out of the case. Hubby turned around and went right back for me to exchange it. He picked up a pizza at Dominoes also.

He got home walked in the door. He was going upstairs, I was going down. Romeo threw up in the landing downstairs. I tried to get him to move a few feet to the concrete floor in the unfinished basement. He moved and went right behind Tyler and threw up again. He never ever has done this close to someone. So hubby and I each took a pile and cleaned them up. While we were doing this Romeo had went and laid down on his dog bed near our computers. He got up about 5 minutes later and Tyler asked "What is wrong with Romeo's leg?" We called him and his left front leg looked sort of like his joint had turned inside out. He started violently throwing up all over the basement then. I called my sister who lives 10 minutes away and brother while I threw some clothes on my brother found me the closest emergency vet. I ran back downstairs and Romeo was getting worse by the minute. All of his joints became unfunctional. He was throwing up foam and slime. He was in terrible shape. I layed with him and my sister got here and checked everything she knew to check. His tongue was swollen, his eyes were dialated, he was getting sicker and sicker by the minute. So we wrapped him in a big blanket and hubby carried him to the truck. He sat in the back of the truck with him on the way to the vet and we followed my sister. Her and my brother had called to let them know we were coming.

Romeo was a dog that was loved by many! It was a long standing joke if hubby and I died there was a line of people who would fight for custody of him. He started having problems breathing in the truck. He was still throwing up and hubby just sat there devastated. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the vet. Once there, they had us bring him right back into the back and started checking him. At first they assumed he had been poisoned. The only thing possible that could have done that is his dog food. I gave them the go ahead to run blood work, and do an x-ray. We had a bit of hope right away, because the vet got him to walk to the scale and he looked a little better. That ended very quickly! When we got his blood work back we found out his kidney's were in failure and there was nothing we could do. We asked them to bring Romeo back into the waiting room we were in. We sat with him for close to 2 hours. Actually they brought a blanket in and he layed on it and we layed with him. It was heart wrenching! I have never lost a pet before that was mine and I had raised for nearly a decade. We had them put him to sleep when we were ready and came home feeling empty.

He was such a good dog that we never had to put him away while we were gone. So his presence is missed so much! He is not there right when we walk in the door anymore, his tail is not hitting us all day and night. He is not at the foot of our bed or side when I wake up each day, he was the best dog anyone could ask for and he is missed so much!!!

It all happened so quick, it almost seemed unreal. He has always been very healthy! A couple days after he passed I decided to research his food and what I found made me feel so guilty and shitty for not looking sooner! But who would think such a known named product could do what it did?? He ate Purina Beneful Healthy Radiance for almost 4 years. I found a forum of a bunch of people who pretty much lost their dog in the same manner we lost Romeo. The food is disgusting!! If anyone is feeding this food to their dogs, please don't. I would hate for this to keep happening and Purina to not stop it. Now I know there is some dogs that do just fine with it. But the stories I found prove there is also alot of dogs who don't. I feel so guilty because if I had looked long ago, he NEVER would have been fed it again.

I am going to split this entry up into two. So I will end this one just simply as a tribute to my dog. He will be missed forever!

Love & Hugs,

Robyn

My idea of heaven

2009-04-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

Summer memories

2009-04-27T22:43:00.001-07:00

Summertime fun

2009-04-26T01:25:00.001-07:00

Summery tag

2009-04-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

Hello & Hugs scroll set

2009-04-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Stuffed green peppers for dinner..........My birthday

2009-04-10T22:29:00.000-07:00

If anyone want's the recipe let me know. After baking them for an hour I added Mozzarella cheese to the top of each of them and let it melt. Josh ate 1 and half lol!

I am sharing my birthday with the Easter bunny this year :) So tomorrow night we are having a party here at our house. Should be a great time! I hope you all have a great Easter & Weekend!

Hugs & Love,

Robyn

My menu today........... No-Bake cookies & Boiled Chicken

2009-04-08T14:51:00.000-07:00

Hi guys I didn't end up making the no-bake cookies last night. I made them with Rayanna when she got home from school. Here is the recipe........

No-Bake Cookies

2 cups white sugar

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup of butter (a stick)

1/2 cup of milk

1 pinch of salt

3 cups quick cooking oats

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

about a cup of coconut

1: In a sauce pan bring the sugar, cocoa, butter, milk and salt to a rapid boil for one minute

2: In a mixing bowl add the oats, coconut and vanilla extract

3: After your sauce pan mixture has came to the rapid boil pour it over the oats mixture and stir well so that everything is evenly coated.

4: Lay a strip of wax paper onto the counter and start scooping the cookies until mixture is gone. You can make them any size you want.

5: Let sit and they will harden.

You also can add anything that sounds good to you in them like a lil peanut butter, caramel, chocolate chips, nuts, ect

For dinner tonight is boiled chicken, in about an hour I will clean it and make some sort of rice or noodles to serve it over.

"Where I am from" Wrote by my daughter Rayanna

2009-04-07T21:05:00.001-07:00

Ray's conference went awesome! She made the A honor roll and is super excited about that! She had to write this poem called where I am from and I love it!

"Where I am from"

I am from Karoake Revolution: American Idol Edition, from Prego spaghetti sauce, and Dawn dish soap.

I am from a cozy, and clean suburban home.

I am from walkways covered by trees, the beaches full of soft white sand, and cold water.

I am from home cooked meals, and never a dull moment, from Joshua, and Lexi and the Lennes family.

I am from keeping to our selves in public, and letting loose when it's just family and close friends hanging out. From get rid of that attitude, and Night Sweetie, I love you.

I'm from Prairie Island, Spaghetti, and Tator-tot hotdish. From the laughing over dumb things only Kerry and I would understand, the fun summer days hanging out at Fish Lake, and the crazy, annoying Josh.

I am from Cherished Bears on my bedroom shelves, gave to me from a mom who never stops giving, and couldn't be more loved, and appreciated.

My name is Rayanna L.

Been awhile & random pics

2009-04-07T14:34:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! I just wanted to do a entry because it has been awhile! I have sort of had the winter blues I guess you could call it. I sure wish it would start feeling like spring sooner than later! It is still so cold here!

My kids are both doing great at the new schools! Ray has her first conference tonight at her Middle School. She is applying for all of the HP classes for next year. She had to take her state testing in our old district and got above average in both tests. She does every year. It was funny this year though, she started school the day before they were taking them in our new district so they made her take them again. They were blown away by her scores and she actually did better this time around on both tests. But because she came in so close to the end of the year, they did not place her in advanced classes this year. So next year she will be in them. I was worried if she wasn't able to be in some advanced classes of her getting bored in school and not challenged enough. So it is awesome to know next year she will be back where she fits in.

Josh's school hired a new teacher to be his one on one and so far so good. We are keeping our fingers crossed that everything continue's going good! He seems to have a TON to talk about everyday when he gets home. I sure do wish I could understand his baby chatter lol! I took some pictures of him his first morning of school. He was so excited to put his backpack on, because he associates taht with "I am going to school". One day he was kicking and fighting to not get on the bus in the morning. That is very strange for him! His dad had to pick him up and put him on the bus. That worried us because he never does that about going to school. But he seemed just fine all day and when he got home.

We moved into wind central!! Man does it get windy here! This last weekend hubby's son was here. Friday night my brother, and SIL also came over and spent the night. We got our electronic dart board set up in the basement and played darts for about an hour. We also went to the local bar for last call. My brother had my SIL & I take a shot called a Dead Nazi and it was nasty! It tasted like really strong cough syrup! When we got home we all played Rock Band all night long. I was surprised to find out I do pretty good on the bass guitar, BUT I suck at drums lol! Then on Saturday after feeding every lunch hubby helped his son make some foam darts for his Nerf gun while the rest of us just sat around lazy. Then I cooked some tator tot hotdish for dinner and everyone went out in our backyard with the dog and played frisbee. (When the could beat the dog to it!).

My truck was in the shop AGAIN and another huge bill later it seems to be running pretty good! I sure hope it stays that way for awhile! Some people tell me to get rid of it, trade it in. The thing is the truck still looks brand new, I LOVE it, and I am almost done paying it off! So that will be a car payment I won't have to make. I don't want to jump back into another high payment, if I can keep mine going. You would NEVER guess it had 150,000 miles on it because it is still in great shape. But it sure has been a pain in my butt over the last years time!!

Our computers are set up in our unfinished basement. And I honestly have not been on mine much because it gets so cold down here! We have one space heater we use. We actually have 2 others BUT they can't all run in this corner because of the lack of outlets and we short the fuse out. So I am usually bundled up when down here or have the heater right next to me! I am counting down until summer so we can just open some windows for the outdoor heat to warm it up down here!

The last couple times I have cooked Tator tot hotdish I have stopped using beef (which was what the recipe was when I gave it) and started using either ground turkey which is awesome. Or else the last time I used ground buffalo and OMG was it good with the buffalo!! Everyone loved it! They are both better for you than the hamburger so I think I will not use it anymore. I made a BIG bowl of Tuna Salad a couple days ago and everyone must have loved it also, because it is gone already. I thought for sure it would last close to week! Tonight when I get home from Ray's conference I am making some no bake cookies. I will take some pictures. If you like oats, coconut, and chocolate you would like these. They are super simple to make and great to eat! The coolest part is you heat up the mixture add the oats and coconut and they are ready to be spooned out onto wax paper.

Well I think I will end this and upload some pictures into this entry. I hope everyone is doing good!!

Hugs & Love, Robyn

Garage starting to look like a garage. The whole right side of my garage is garage sale/donation's stuff! I sent a van full with my SIL for thier garage sale this spring this last weekend.

My sister bought me this clock years ago and it sat in a box. I didn't realize it was neon lit so I hung it in the garage lol

Tator Tot hotdish with buffalo! YUM!

Josh excited to start school ;)

He has had these shoes, but they are to cute not to take a picture of ;)

He sees his bus here

Crock pot Scalloped Potatoes & Ham YUM also! Let em cook all day and dinner is ready.

Gorjuss Easter tag

2009-03-29T13:42:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter tag

2009-03-29T12:54:00.001-07:00

Happy Easter tag

2009-03-27T23:03:00.000-07:00

Created a new blog. Everyone go check it out :)

2009-03-21T01:23:00.000-07:00

http://tipstonaturalhealing.blogspot.com/

Spring is in the air (gorjuss)

2009-03-20T03:25:00.001-07:00

Look how cool blog awards

2009-03-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

I received a "Look How Cool Blog" Award from Sugar (thanks a million chica!). I'm supposed to pass it on to 8 more "cool blogs". Stop by to find out why I picked these... (in no paticular order)

1. Alvia http://admdesigns.blogspot.com/

2. Chris http://cabscreationschatter.blogspot.com/

3. Linda http://swmpgrly.blogspot.com/

4. Donna http://dsdesignsandotherthings.blogspot.com/

5. Missie http://missiesupsidedownworld.blogspot.com/

6. Robin http://yellowbrickroadtwo.blogspot.com/

7. Indigo http://deafscreams.blogspot.com/

8. Missy http://learningtoadapt.blogspot.com/

Now, you guys snag your award tag, put it on your side bar, & pass it on to 8 more!

Hugs & Love, Robyn

Somebody I love is a survivor (Gorjuss tag)

2009-03-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

Recipe for Happiness! One we should all follow everyday

2009-03-10T00:03:00.000-07:00

I love this recipe!

2 cups friendship
4 cups love
2 cups forgiveness
3 cups loyalty
3 spoons tenderness
5 spoons hope
6 quarts faith
2 barrels laughter

Take friendship and love and mix with tenderness. Blend thoroughly with loyalty. Add hope and faith. Sprinkle with forgiveness. Serve daily with abundant laughter!

This recipe is in a family cook book made by everyone in my grandma's family.

Pics part 3

2009-03-09T23:43:00.001-07:00

Where the red tape is to the window will be Ray's new bedroom. The wall will be angled so it will come out 2 feet on each side and the be angled where the door will go. She will end up with a really decent sized room

Just random pics

Master bathroom which is going to be repainted also

Our poor, poor bedroom. This is temporary! When we moved a few years ago we got rid of our whole bedroom set. So we will have to just make due for now until I get a new one

I think I will actually be making a really cool headboard and just buying the nightstands, and dressers

This was my grandma's cedar chest. It is about 70 years old and still in perfect shape! I store sheets and some old doilies and napkins and crocheted napkins she made in it.

Well that is it for tonight! I will share more as we get more done.

Pics part 2

2009-03-09T23:23:00.001-07:00

Stuff, stuff and more stuff everywhere I will probably end up getting rid of

Pictures waiting to get hung taking up the hallway

Ray's bedroom, until we finish the downstairs room for her

She used this mirror I won at community bingo and shelf to put in her closet for in the mornings getting ready for school. Cool idea ;)

My lense REALLY needs to be cleaned I see by all the spots in the pictures lol

More piles of stuff. We have boxes upon boxes of toys! It was like Christmas for Josh unpacking

See what an unfinished bathroom turns into??

No walls yet downstairs so I hung these laundry pictures on beams lol. But they are all to cute so I cannot wait until there are walls

Pics part 1

2009-03-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Whew they got it upstairs ;)

The BEAST! lol

I think I told you guys I really want to start finding cheap cool furniture and redoing it. I bought this little stand at a garage sale years ago for like 3 dollars and repainted it.

Ne see your doll in the corner with the rest ;)

Here is what we were so lucky to get 2 days after we moved in!

Updating and lots of pics coming in a few parts

2009-03-09T22:23:00.000-07:00

Don't mind the ghettolicious part I just like the tag lmao ;)

Hi everyone it feels like forever since I have wrote an actual entry here! We found a house about an hour out of the cities that puts me in a much more comfortable spot financially! Because we are an hour out of the cities it is significantly cheaper to live here. The house is newer, it was built in 2005.

But it is significantly smaller than anything I have ever lived in. Only because the basement is completely unfinished still. The first thing that will be done down here is to add a 4th bedroom for my daughter because the two bedrooms upstairs are pretty small. Our master bedroom is decent sized though. The house is nice it really is. It is just an adjustment! Especially going from living in a city with 80,000 people to a city with 9000! We have moved to the country Ya'll! lol

We moved in two seperate times. First move was taking all we had in corporate and what we could fit into a 26 foot Uhaul. We brought that all here and sort of bare boned it for a week and a half. Then this last week we rented yet another 26 foot Uhaul and paid a couple guys to meet us almost 2 hours away at our storage again to empty out the remaining stuff. We filled two 26 foot Uhauls both times!

Being in corporate for a few years really made me appreciate uncluttered spaces. I have been overwhelmed going through all of our own stuff again! I am going through it all and keeping what really means the most to me and making a sell on Craigslist pile, a garage sale pile, and a donate pile! I am getting rid of a TON of stuff. So it is all a work in progress. I will share what pictures I have in a couple entries so that they load faster. We have a 400 pound 69 inch big screen TV that is the biggest pain in my ass! The guys we hired to help us load the Uhaul and one buddy of my hunnies got it moved into the Uhaul pretty easy. Then here at our new house my brother and his buddy met my hunny and his buddy here and getting it in here was not as easy! I pity ANYONE that has to move it. I will not move it again. It will be sold and whoever buys it will be moving it lol. I took some pics of them moving it in also.

I am painting the bathroom in the hallway upstairs so I won't share any pictures of that until the room is all set up the way I want it to look. We do have a great yard here, a great deck off the kitchen, a park right in our backyard so we will never have backyard neighbors. It is all coming together, but like I said this is a change of pace for me. It has been a work in progress and there is still SO much to do!

My daughter has been a trooper and really pitched in and helped out even as far as carrying stuff like a grown man lol. She has started school and went from a school she had one classroom all day with 2600 hundred kids for 5th & 6th grade into a middle school with 7 classes a day and only 800 kids. BIG changes for her, but she is loving it. The kids have all been really nice and helpful to her.

Friday night I dropped her off to meet a bunch of kids at the roller skating rink and she fell really hard. So I went and got her a little early. She came home and we iced her wrist and elbow, and gave her some Ibruprofen. Nothing was helping and around midnight she was just crying her eyes out because it hurt her so much. So hubby and I took her to the SMALLEST hospital I have ever been in ever lmao about 15 minutes from us and they did Xrays. She sprained her wrist and elbow. So she is wearing a splint and sling for the week. Thank goodness she didn't fracture anything or break anything! I was freaking out about her going skating because I did that at her age and remember clearly what went on at the rinks while we were all there lol! She is a good kid and I do trust her though!

Josh will be starting school but it truly is a long process to get him enrolled and put into the proper programs. He will be going to a city aways Special Ed Co-op is what they call it. Two of his teacher's from his old school are actually coming up here on Thursday morning to help with the transition. Ray was in school for one week and now both the kids have spring break all this week.

As usual I have so much more I could write about but should wrap this up and upload some photo's. I am going to split it up into part 1, 2 and 3. I am terribly behind on everyone's blogs! I will try to catch up. I do not know if Donna has went in for her surgery yet but I want her to know she is in my thoughts and prayers!! Missie you also, I sure hope your knee surgery recovery is going good! Chrissie & Ne I know you two have been sick and really hope your both on the mend! Chris you to hun! LJ I haven't seen a alert in my emails for any posting from you but want you to know I always am thinking of you to and hope your doing well! Sug, I know I have some sort of an award to pick up from your blog and will get there and want to thank you in advance for whatever it is!! I hope your doing ok also! Alvia I hope your having a great week. OK so bottom line, I love you all and have you on my mind even when I am not able to be around for long periods of times ;)

Hugs, Robyn

Celebrate Life new tag

2009-03-09T22:20:00.001-07:00

Sharing a crockpot reciepe

2009-03-09T17:01:00.000-07:00

Crockpot Ham & Scalloped Potatoes

1 1/2 cup diced ham

8 potatoes sliced

1 onion sliced

salt & pepper to taste

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 can cream of celery soup or cream of mushroom soup (I usually use one full can of mushroom and a half a can of celery)

Paprika

Layer using 1/2 the ham, potatoes and onions in the crockpot

Sprinkle with salt & pepper

Add all the cheese

Layer remaining half

Spoon soup over the top of it all

Sprinkle with paprika

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4 hours (personally all day tastes better to me :)

This fills a 3 quart crockpot

Let me know what you think if you try it ;) We love it in our house!

New tag and checking in

2009-02-28T11:51:00.001-08:00

Hi guys I just wanted to let you know I was still alive! I have been really busy with our move. A longer entry will come tonight... Here is a tag

2 new tags. Serenity prayer & I love you

2009-02-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

Funny video of my sister

2009-02-12T21:00:00.000-08:00

If anyone would like to see a funny vid of my sister packing her way overfull suitcase click here.... They were packing to come home from LA a few days ago and my brother taped her. She is a pro! lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrtaVy_2pxM&feature=channel

Homemade with love (gorjuss tag)

2009-02-12T19:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day tag

2009-02-10T14:47:00.001-08:00

Let's pretend (Gorjuss tag)

2009-02-09T22:33:00.000-08:00

BFF Award

2009-02-09T20:38:00.001-08:00

Here's a special tag, it's a "BFF AWARD", it's from a awesome friend of mine, Sugar. Please give it to 6 other bloggers, who've been exceptionally kind or helpful to you. Find out who I picked below..

MY 6 CHOICES (In no specific order)

1. Lisa Jo

2. Nelishia

3. Chris (Cacklinrose)

4. Chrissie

5. Missie

6. Sugar (right back at ya hun :)

7. HONORARY mention lol Alvia. Not sure if you being a man want a BFF award, but your an awesome man hun and make some awesome graphics!

These are people I think of as friends. I have been very lucky to meet some WONDERFUL people through journals and I honestly could name more than 6 for this award, but rules are rules ;) Pick up your award and pass it on...........

Hugs & Love to you all! Have a great week!

Robyn

Never argue with a woman! love this!

2009-02-08T22:59:00.000-08:00

Never Argue with a Woman One morning the husband returns after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, and reads her book. Along comes a Game Warden in his boat.

He pulls up alongside the woman and says, 'Good morning, Ma'am. What are you doing?' 'Reading a book,' she replies, (thinking, 'Isn't that obvious?') 'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her 'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing .

I'm reading' 'Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any mome nt. I'll have to take you in and write you up.' 'For reading a book,' she replies, 'You're in a Restricted Fishing Area,' he informs her again, 'I'm sorry, officer, but I'm not fishing.

I'm reading' 'Yes, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.

I'll have to take you in and write you up.' 'If you do that, I'll have to charge you with Sexual assault,' says the woman. 'But I haven't even touched you,' says the game warden. 'That's true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.' 'Have a nice day ma'am,' and he left.

MORAL: Never argue with a woman who reads. It's likely she can also think.

Gorjuss Winterfest

2009-01-27T02:23:00.000-08:00

2 DOTW sets before I delete them. That's it for now ;)

2009-01-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

Cleaning house part 2 snag before I delete....

2009-01-26T19:35:00.000-08:00

Bringing back some oldies.....(MILD AC in some) Cleaning house lol snag before I delete ;)

2009-01-26T19:09:00.000-08:00

Fun??

2009-01-26T18:07:00.000-08:00

Cute tag but I sure wish I knew what was supposed to be FUN about winter? I drove my daughter to school this morning and my truck said it was -17!! That doesn't even count the windchill. Taking the dog outside to potty is miserable! I asked LJ if she had a face mask for her stupid cart parties she has to do and she said she would look like a robber and cracked me up! I didn't care one single bit about how funny I looked when I took my dog out at midnight last night because he wouldn't stop crying I put that mask on ;)

There is just no amount of bundling you can do honestly! When it is that cold outside you just shouldn't be out there for long. I know the weather is crazy all over right now! I hope you are all staying warm and safe if you are getting this horrid cold, snow, ice or rain! Perfect weather to have your fireplace going and drink a hot cup of tea.

Tomorrow my daughter Rayanna is having a International picnic at school. She is bringing in these little turkey, butter, cheese and cucumber sandwiches on Baguette bread and little pastries. So tonight I cut up two whole loaves of the bread and she buttered it and made the little sandwiches and we filled a big pan with them and stuck toothpicks in them so they wouldn't all fall apart by morning.

My hubby is still so sick! He is out of bed right now for the first time since 2 days ago right now. He has pretty much been in bed for 2 days straight. Ate near to nothing or even drank anything. Tonight I got him some cherry 7up, watermelon, and saltine crackers. He has seemed to keep them all down so that is good. But now his back is killing him from being in bed for two days. Hopefully he will start feeling normal within the next two days!

Josh has a fever also but goes about his daily routine like nothing is wrong. Either way, he had to stay home today also because of the fever. Seems so many are sick or have a family member sick right now!

I just wish Spring would hurry up and get here and it would warm up!

I have a couple different options I am considering right now and have a couple days to decide what we will do about moving. One thing I think some of you may not realize is that we have been living in Corporate housing for almost two years. Meaning the house is furnished. We have a trailer full of our own stuff we move with us and that is all. So when you see new pictures of my house it is mostly Corporate's furnishings not our own. Some have commented how do you unpack and get situated so quickly? That is how lol! We have 3 big storage units FULL of our own stuff about 30 minutes from where we live.

We used to stay in corporate units when Josh had his surgeries and we had to travel for extended periods of times. I don't know how many of you remember but when we moved out of our own house almost 2 years ago we packed up a almost 4000 square foot house that was full top to bottom in 13 days and left. We had huge plumbing issues and found out there was mold in the house making us sick. So we decided to move sooner than later. When we moved from our own house we needed something quick so we ended up in corporate. We just haven't seemed to find the right place since then and as you have seen the units we have lived in are all very nice, nicely decorated and easy. I pay one lump amount and they take care of everything. Meaning electric, gas, water, garbage, cable, internet, ect.

But now that my pay has decreased so much the high amount I pay is just not justifiable anymore. We need to be back into our own place with our own stuff and set up our own house again. I miss my stuff! I miss my collections, my art. Aside from the high price for rent each month I also pay $560.00 a month for our stuff to be in storage. So in all honesty when I say we may need to move again. We are not losing "Our" house, we are really regaining "Our" house. Which definately is not a bad thing. It is just a HUGE move because we have so much stuff.

Well I should wrap this up and go switch the laundry and sweep my kitchen floor. Seems I was going to do laundry when I ended my last entry also....Sigh.............. lol

Hugs & Love, Robyn

Be mine? (MILD AC)

2009-01-26T18:03:00.001-08:00

My first AOL entry ever (Copying LJ :)

2009-01-25T23:21:00.000-08:00

I started just recently reading other peoples journals, and man they can suck ya in! So I started thinking with my life and all things I feel and go thru on a daily basis this is a great way to let some of it out! This is going to be a long entry that will have to be continued at another time I am sure because I am going to start from the beginning of pregnancy with my son. For starters I have a daughter Rayanna who is 8 years old also, and I am raising my 15 year old sister also. I live with my soulmate we have been together 8 years and I do not know what I would do without him. I have a dog named Romeo, a lizard named Dracko, and a fish named Red lol. I am an old fashioned romantic type who loves to hang out at home with my family and enjoy the simple things in life. But the catcher is that since the day I found out about being pregnant with my son my life has been anything short of simple and relaxing. Its strange the way the world works, how one thing in this huge world can change someones life so drastically overnight! In the blink of eye! Lets start at the beginning now that I got the introduction out of the way lol..........
Joshua's Story....
I missed my cycle and had a feeling I was pregnant(but my cycles have not been regular for a long time!), but 5 home pregnancy tests begged to differ. One night Bill and I were laying in our living room watching TV and he got kicked in the head! lol. He said "I do not care what those tests say we are going to the doctor because you are most definately pregnant" So I made an appointment and within the week we were there.
Well obviously I was pregnant, and we had no idea how far along I was since I was so irregular, so I was told that they were sending me to Fairview Riverside for a level 2 ultrasound so we could get a estimated due date. A few days later we went to that appointment and after doing the ultrasound a doctor walks into our room and asks me " So do you know what is wrong with your baby?" We looked at her and said "No, we were not aware we were sent here because something is wrong" I do not think she knew that my ObGyn had not forwarned us.
So we were in shock, scared, sad, confused, and really angry for not being forwarned of what we were being told there. Well we then found out I was very close togoing into my 3rd trimester already. Talk about not much time to prepare ;) The doctor told us she would bring us into a meeting room and give us the list of things that may be wrong with our son. We went into the room and sat down and listened as she named 3 things that it could be.
1. Acrodysplasia
2. Something Chromosome related, like downs syndrome and
3. Craniosynostosis.
His limbs were shorter then normal in the ultrasound. She asked if I wanted to do an Amniocentesis that they could then tell me if it were genetic or chromosomal abnormalities. But I am a very high risk pregnancy, I have never carried full term. And doing the Amnio could have sent me into early labor, so we told her " Its not going to change anything, nor help us to know right now, so no I am absolutely not going to take the risk of bringing him into this world any sooner then he needs to be.
We left the doctors, crying and feeling all the same emotions I wrote a little bit up. We went home and did searches on the internet for all 3 things it could be. No text books, nor internet sites can prepare you for what your life is going to be like when your child is born especially when we were not sure what he really had.
Well 4 weeks (yep thats it from the time of that ultrasound, so 5 weeks total) he decided he was ready to come into this world 2 months early. I delivered him at Abbott Hospital in Minneapolis, Mn because Childrens Hospital is right across the street. I actually went to Methodist Hospital first, where my Obgyn was after my water broke, but he sent me by ambulance downtown because he said they were not equipped to deal with my son.
He was born on October 19th, 1998 and thats the day my whole life changed! The first two years seemed like a whirlwind! When Joshua was delivered they had a team of PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit) docs there who wisked him away as fast as I could blink it seemed. We still at this point had absolutely no idea what was wrong with him! What a helpless feeling! I wanted to crawl in his body and take it all away! I am going to end this for awhile, I need to get my kids in the tub and to bed. I will continue later.......

Then I finished up some more of Josh's story and changed my purpose................

I am having one of those days lol! I am not feeling very well, and all and everything seems to be getting on my nerves, must be because I am sick. I still have lots to add to my sons story, but really want to start using this for the purpose I made it as my breathing room ;) It is finally getting warmer again here, man what a tease Mother Nature was a couple weeks ago! It was in the lower 80's and upper 70's then bam all the sudden last week again it was sort of snowing and 30 degrees. Well today it is 74 again so heats off for the 3rd time lol. No wonder everyone in my house is sick! My 8 year old is a great little girl with a heart of gold BUT man she can argue, she acts as tho she is 90 years old with all the wisdom in the world on ALL subjects not just some lol, and if she thinks she is right about something she will not let it go. And my 15 year old sister I raise is well need I say more? 15 year old girl? :) She is grounded until tomorrow, and called after school to see if a friend could come over and of course my answer was "No your still grounded" she didn't like that answer much so when I picked her up she had an attitude. KIDS! lol
On a whole different subject I was watching The Search for the Funniest Mom in America on Nickelodian a day ago and the woman who won is the nurse at the urgent care I go to, she just checked me in about a month ago. That was pretty cool to see! She is a single mother with 2 boys and won $50,000.00 and has a chance of being on her own series. How awesome for her! Then I was watching my tivo'd American Idol results and was surprised at the outcome, Anthony stayed? I thought for sure he would be the one going. Oh well I really not that hooked on any TV shows so it isnt going to ruin my week or anything ;) Well my son is going to be getting off the bus soon so I should get going. Bye for now......

Then this................

I Have Learned
I have learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.
I have learned that no matter how much I care, some people just don't care back.
I have learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I have learned that it's not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts.
I have learned that you can get by on charm for about fifteen minutes. After that, you'd better know something.
I have learned that you shouldn't compare yourself to the best others can do, but to the best you can do.
I have learned that it's not what happens to people that's important. It's what they do about it.
I have learned that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I have learned that no matter how thin you slice it, there are always two sides.
I have learned that it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.
I have learned that it's a lot easier to react than it is to think.
I have learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.
I have learned that you can keep going long after you think you can't.
I have learned that we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.
I have learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I have learned that regardless of how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to takeits place.
I have learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I have learned that learning to forgive takes practice.
I have learned that there are people who love you dearly, but just don't know how to show it.
I have learned that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I have learned that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I have learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down will be the ones to help you get back up.
I have learned that sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
I have learned that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
I have learned that just because someone doesn't love you the way you want them to doesn't mean they don't love you with all they have.
I have learned that maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had and what you've learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
I have learned that you should never tell a child their dreams are unlikely or outlandish. Few things are more humiliating, and what a tragedy it would be if they believed it.
I have learned that your family won't always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren't related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren't biological.
I have learned that no matter how good a friend is, they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I have learned that it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself.
I have learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I have learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I have learned that sometimes when my friends fight, I'm forced to choose sides even when I don't want to.
I have learned that just because two people argue, it doesn't mean they don't love each other. And just because they don't argue, it doesn't mean they do.
I have learned that sometimes you have to put the individual ahead of their actions.
I have learned that we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
I have learned that you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I have learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I have learned that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will hurt in the process.
I have learned that there are many ways of falling and staying in love.
I have learned that no matter the consequences, those who are honest with themselves get farther in life.
I have learned that no matter how many friends you have, if you are their pillar you will feel lonely and lost at the times you need them most.
I have learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.
I have learned that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I have learned that writing, as well as talking, can ease emotional pains.
I have learned that the paradigm we live in is not all that is offered to us.
I have learned that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
I have learned that the people you care most about in life are taken from you too soon.
I have learned that although the word "love" can have many different meanings, it loses value when overly used.
I have learned that it's hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people's feelings and standing up for what you believe.

A great true story!

2009-01-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

This is outstanding

Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were. A certain lieutenant colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on the back. Apparently an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall.When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit.

The complaint:'Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base:Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 A.M, a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a lowpass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special? Any response would be appreciated.

The response:Regarding 'A wake-up call from Luke's jets. On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m., a perfectly timed four- ship fly by of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day.At 9 a. m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend. Based on the letter writer's recount of the fly by, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured..A four-ship fly by is a display of respect the Air Force gives to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects.The letter writer asks, 'Whom do we thank for the morning airshow?" The 56th Fighter Wing will make the call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt Fresques, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you....Jesus Christ and the American Soldier.One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr.USAF

Garv Set Hello & Hugs (Mild AC to some?)

2009-01-25T14:56:00.000-08:00

Funny for the day :) (Mild AC)

2009-01-25T13:43:00.000-08:00

So much on my mind

2009-01-25T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have debated talking about this on my blog for a bit now because it is very personal. My finances..........

I have decided to go ahead and talk about it. Without giving a little more info than I am comfortable with it is hard to explain the changes my family and I are coming into. It is SCARY! I have been very fortunate for a long time to make a pretty significant amount of money. The economy has not hit us hard at all compared to others. Now it has impacted everything about my finances.

I will tell you that in the year of 2008' my pay dropped by $118,000.00! That is ALOT of money when you are used to getting that much extra. So we have just sort of went with the flow, stopped spending as much, and cut back as needed.

My check for Febuary is the lowest it has been since April of 2000. It is over half less than the normal take home amount I am used to. So again, I am LUCKY to make the money I do period and have an income coming in. But when you live life a certain way and your bills accomodate the money you expect to make then you take such huge hits it is very hard to make ends meet!

Then it seems that every time I turn around there is another unexpected expense. Like the car accident, doctor's, my truck breaking down left and right, an unexpected bill, ect. I feel like I am drowning and can't find the floatie............

We WILL be ok I know that, but like I said this is all life changing to me and I am going to have to reevalute my priorities. I told you that we recently moved into a house that we really wanted because of the layout. Well the city we live in is a upper class, very expensive city to live in. Our house payment is VERY high and moving again is looking like it may have to happen. We may have to move to a city a little more out of the cities that will be cheaper and able to be paid when I have a bad month.

When I start thinking about it all, I honestly feel like my head is going to explode. My mind races all over the place and I worry. I cannot help it, that is who I am! I take care of everything and everyone in my house so I feel alot of weight lies on my shoulders and it stresses me out beyond belief to think about!

Ok enough about that!

I got my truck back after 2 weeks. They did not total it out. Now I just hope that it doesn't have anymore problems for awhile!

I got hit by a train with the flu bug last week! I had been busy all day, sat down at my computer around 4 and within a half hour I told my hubby I needed to go lay down. I stayed in bed for 2 days. I was ill! Thank god it only lasted 2 days. My hubby has been in bed all day today I think with the same thing. He started getting really achy, cold, ect late last night.

I have so much more in my head and heart that I could write about, but for some reason I find it hard to do here on blogger. I wasn't even making tags for a bit and have just started making them again. I haven't felt creative I guess. I seem to go in spurts. One day I will make 4 or 5 tags then I won't again for another week.

I have said more than once I truly do not NEED a ton of comments, but it feels a little strange to know that almost 50 people follow my blog and only on average 5 people comment. I just wonder what the point is of putting my heart out there for some to read to never say boo to me?!? I knowI am not the only one here feeling this way.

Well I am off to vacuum and do some laundry. It is below zero again here in MN and frigid outside!!! I hope everyone is staying warm and having a great weekend...........

tanyan ihduha! (Take care!) in Dakota ;)

Love and Hugs, Robyn

4 New quote tags

2009-01-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

Stairway to heaven (Gorjuss tag)

2009-01-17T20:03:00.001-08:00

Starlight, Starbright (Gorjuss tag)

2009-01-17T16:21:00.001-08:00

Gorjuss Valentine's Day tag

2009-01-17T14:49:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day tag

2009-01-17T14:25:00.001-08:00

Nature (Another new Gorjuss tube used)

2009-01-15T15:04:00.000-08:00

Freezing! New tag

2009-01-15T06:54:00.000-08:00

Man is it cold this morning in MN! About 60 percent of the state closed schools and our district was not one of them. With the windchill at 7AM it was -36! For the schools not to close at least for a few hours til it warmed up a bit is unheard of! Hubby drove our daughter to school, and our son's bus picks him up right at our driveway. Walking into our garage even your nose hairs freeze lol! I sure hope everyone is staying warm and inside!

Have a great day!

Hugs & Love, Robyn

P.S I changed it now, but didn't realize I put WINDSHIELD instead of windchill lmao! The cold musta went to my head that morning. I am so surprised noone corrected me :) Maybe ya'll felt so bad for me since it was so cold you decided not to tease me??

Let it snow (New Gorjuss tube used)

2009-01-14T14:24:00.001-08:00

One new Valentine's Day tag and some oldies....

2009-01-13T22:26:00.000-08:00

These two may be a little big for my blog setup. I sure wish you could go bigger than the 400 range!

Hosted on Fotki

Hosted on Fotki

Pics of new place (Lots of pictures!)

2009-01-12T21:10:00.000-08:00

Ray had to make a roller coaster replica. I think she did an awesome job!

Can't leave out Romeo lol

Storage room

The reason we wanted 2 living rooms again. My kids have so many electronics and games and DVD's. It is nice to have a space for it all not in our main living room again! Now the kids can be spazzes down in the basement ;)

They even have a table to do homework, play games, do crafts

Kids's bathroom

Movies

Not sure what the white circle in the blinds is

Nice kitchen, but not near as big as our other. We gave up the space in the kitchen for the other things that made it so worth moving again

Summer will be nice, there is a big deck right there off dining room

Hallway to basement

Main level living room

Half bath right when you come in from garage

Garage door entrance which is same level as kitchen, which is really nice not have to carry so many bags up two levels!

Front door

Master bathroom

and again

Main living room

master bathroom again (not sure why so many of these pics are dark)

The tall dresser in our bedroom is FULL of my pajamas. Here is what wouldn't fit. All jammie pants. I have a jammie fetish lmao

Nice size walk in closet that is full since hubby pretty much got no drawer space lol

This is the dresser that is full of my pajamas

Josh's room, him in bed. Seems to always be that way when I take pictures of my house lol

Another of his room. Ray's room is not in here because she was sleeping all over the place in her bed

Bedroom level laundry, saves us going up and down 3 levels. SO NICE! Because we are never done doing laundry!

More of master bedroom

And again

Josh's bathroom

Hall upstairs from loft area looking at bedrooms, laundry room, bathrooms

Loft area which we use as our computer area. LOVE the windows in this house

Hubby needs a new desk this is temporary. lol

My desk is on the right. I had that really nice corner unit black and walnut desk, but it is SUCH a pain to move we left it

Snow, anyone want any??

2009-01-12T21:05:00.001-08:00

It started snowing this morning and didn't stop until tonight. Now starting tomorrow it is supposed to 17- then the next day 20-! To cold for me. I need a few things froms the grocery store and Target, and have a couple bills to pay. I am NOT wanting to go out tomorrow at all. The joys of living in MN!

I think that when you drive an SUV and crash it that your insurance company should have to put you into another same type of vehicle!! lol Here is what I got instead, and with snow like this this little tin box barely moves.......

XOXO (AC in tag)

2009-01-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

My last week..........(NEVER a dull moment!) Pics & Prayers needed

2009-01-08T22:09:00.000-08:00

Man where do I start??

A place across the street from us opened up this last week that we really wanted because of the layout. It is way more practical for us for many reasons. So we decided on the spur of the moment to move across the street! We started moving this last weekend while the kids were gone doing different things.

Friday night after our last trip over there I was driving my truck, hubby his van and I felt this strange almost jolt of electricity is the best way I can describe it go from my heart straight to my arms and lower back. My left arm and hand, fingers, ect felt super heavy and tingly.

5 minutes later we pulled into our garage. I told hubby what had happened he helped me up to the kitchen. By the time I got to the kitchen my whole left leg and foot felt the same way. I started crying because something just didn't feel right!

My hubby called the hospital, they of course said call an ambulance, or if we were close enough take me to a ER asap because they treated it as a possible heart attack. So off we went to the ER at 11 at night with Josh.

They got me back right away and like I said treated it as a heart attack until they ruled it out. So they mentioned the possibility of it being a mini stroke I had. I told the ER Cardiologist that I had an appointment this week with my regular doctor so he said to take it really easy until then and to have him set up a MRI of my brain. So yesterday I went to my main doc and they got the MRI and 2 MRA' s scheduled for today. My hubby took me, we got there at 4:45 and I had to be in the tube for an hour and a half.

My doctor asked the Radiologist to call with the results right away. So I called his office when I was leaving the MRI/MRA tonight and asked his assistant to call me if they found nothing so I could cancel my appointment for tomorrow. I am a bit worried because they didn't want me to cancel it which would imply he has something to tell me? So please keep me in your prayers again!

Over the weekend my hubby MADE me take it easy, made me not lift a finger moving and did it all himself. He is so tired and sore also but he worries so about me!

So then once again on Monday we were on our very last load moving across the street and hubby and I took seperate cars to meet Josh off the bus and load up groceries and the last few bigger items like shoe rack, coat rack, bike, ect.

I had a few errands I had to run and a couple bills to go pay so I asked if he would be ok getting the rest loaded into his van and I would take Josh with me to run a couple errands and meet him at our new place? He said go ahead baby. So off we were. Well 2 blocks from our house on our way home I was coming down a small hill and coming to a stop at a street I have drove hundreds of times. Something happened and my truck locked up and I lost total control!! I spun around 2 full times and the third time went up the curb and in the ditch! I was like WTH just happened?? Josh I were ok thank god and I called my daughter and she actually caught hubby leaving our old house and told him we had just crashed in the truck. He could actually see us and came right away. We tried to pull the truck out and neither one of us could get it to budge!?! Would you like to see why?................................

So it could have been way worse! My son and I are ok and that is the most important part. But if the total damage is 70 percent or more of the value of my truck they will call it totaled. If they do this I will have no truck and STILL owe the bank more then the check they will send them for market value of my truck because of the high mileage on it!

I have pictures of our new place but have spent almost 2 hours uploading the last few entries and am to tired to add more tonight. So I will do those tomorrow.

I hope everyone is doing well and had a great New Year's! Life has been far to stressful for us for months and we sure hoped 2009' would be better. But I am telling you it sure isn't starting out looking that way!

Love & hugs to you all!

Robyn

A much needed outing for hubby and I. Wait til you here about the last week!!

2009-01-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

Last week hubby and I went down to our casino on my Reservation and got a Superior Suite. I think I told you all that we have done a huge renovation down there and one of them was making nicer and bigger suites and also penthouse suites. They added 200 rooms total. The room we stayed in is the one in between a penthouse and regular suite. It was beautiful! It was a good thing we had a room because the weather was terrible that night and the roads were pure ice! We enjoyed a great dinner. We both had steak. We played some cards and I had a few Captain/Cokes and hubby had a few beers and we relaxed a ton in the room. Here is some pictures of it. Check out the size of this bathroom! A casino host said she thinks it is so woman can do cartwheels on the monster ledge lol!

Tour of the Mall of America from the outside

2009-01-08T13:02:00.000-08:00

I have a few different entries I plan on doing in the next day or two. But I am going to break them up because each one is different because there just has been SO much going on here. My daughter and grandson went home on Monday morning. It was so nice having them here for a month! But the quiet is nice now also lol!

One day both my daughter's asked if they could go to the Mall of America. It was two days after Christmas. No biggie right? It is only 17 miles from me. So off we go and when we got onto the exit for the mall (there is 2 of them) we sat literally for an hour and 20 minutes just to get into the mall! We were crawling! The girls could have walked there in 5 minutes, but I wasn't letting them out on a big ole ramp.

So then I remembered Chrissie asking for pictures of the mall so I figured I could at least snap away while I had to drive around it to drop the girls and get out again lol. My girls were like "mom you look like a tourist!!"

This is the Best Buy Headquarters that was just put here about a year and a half ago. It is huge!

This is a indoor waterpark/hotel that is directly across the street from the Mall of America

The rest of these ended up upload backwards but I just snapped away as I drove around the mall. The huge Ikea is right across the street from the mall also. See police even have to direct traffic there. Personally I think it is overrated, but that is because it is a mall very close to me lol! The next time I go shopping there I will MAKE sure to bring my camera and again look like a tourist. Honestly the inside is crazy, the stuff in it is crazy. I guess I don't appreciate it as much as other's would who have never been there because I do NOT think it is fun to have to walk for 45 minutes from one side to the other if the two places we need to go are on opposite sides of the mall lol!

The Minneapolis/St.Paul airport is right there to the right. It is that close to the mall

"The Old Ways" Another Native story it is long but a great read!

2009-01-06T21:01:00.000-08:00

THE OLD WAYS

We've all heard of the "old ways". When life wasn't so complicated. When everyone spoke their native language. When our creation stories were told during the cold winter months. What was daily life like? Just what exactly are the "old ways"? How did they become lost? Do we still need the "old ways"? If so, how do we learn the "old ways"?.

At risk of over-simplifying our way of life, I will attempt to share some thoughts on this topic about the "old ways".

The "old ways" refer to the way our ancestors lived on a daily basis. The way they thought. The way they behaved. The way they believed. The way they worshipped.

In the "old ways" everything related to all things: the winged, the four-legged, the swimmers, the crawlers, the two legged. We were related to trees, the water, the sun, the moon and the stars. The sky, the wind, the rain, and the air were all a part of us. The stone nation spoke to us in a sweat lodge ceremony. Our grandmothers and grandfathers guided us in our daily lives through the smoke of our sacred pipe. Our bodies were sacred. Our children were sacred. Our language, the very words we spoke, were sacred. Even our thoughts were sacred. Our elders taught us, "always keep good thoughts". In the "old ways", we helped each other. We respected each other. But most of all, we accepted each other. When we sat in council, everybody had a voice. All decisions were supported despite the many differences of opinion.

We understood we were "human", imperfect, pitiful. We warred with other tribes over food and resources, but only out of the need for survival. We offered tobacco whenever we took from Mother Earth. We took only what we needed. When we ate, we remembered our ancestors by sharing our food with them.

We acknowledged the spirit in all things, the fire, the drum, the sacred pipe, the songs. We purified our spirits through ceremony. We found our medicines and herbs in nature and we were thankful.

In the "old ways" we called it....

"Bimaadadiziiwin", (bi-ma-dah-di-zee-win), the "Good life". The kind of life that included all living things. Plants, animals, Mother Earth, and Father Sky. It was a simple life. It was a blessed life. It was ALL LIFE.

Today, without the "old ways", we think only of ourselves. We disrespect Mother Earth by polluting her and taking all her resources with out giving back. We dishonor our bodies, we dishonor our spirits with alcohol and drugs, food, sex or material wealth. We dishonor our gifts by not using the sacred pipe, the drum, the ceremonies; our language. We dishonor our ancestors who suffered and died, all the while, preserving the teachings of our culture for us. And worse yet, we scoff at and make fun of those who continue to believe in and teach the "old ways".

We have forgotten we are "Anishinabe" the "original people", the care-takers of Mother Earth.

Through assimilation we've forgotten about humaneness. We've learned shame. We've learned separateness. We have put ourselves above the animals, the enviroment, and the people of color. We have traded our ceremonies for peronal prestige; our children for less responsibility and more freedom; our elders for scientific and synthetic medicines.

We have accepted the blessings from the Creator but fool ourselves in the belief there is no longer a need for the "old ways".

We have become lost! We have lost the belief in "all life". We have become disrespectful to "all life". We have forgotten "we are all related". We have assimilated. We have bought into the ways of the dominant society. We found easier, quicker ways.

But is it really? It is easier to gamble? Smoke marijuana? Drink and drive? Are our children flourishing? Are we helping one another? Sharing? Are we treating others like we would to be treated? How domestic abuse? Homocide? Suicide? Is life really any easier without our "old ways"?

I think not! I believe our "old ways" are calling to us! I believe we have survived for a reason! Our "ways" have survived for a reason! Despite the broken promises! Despite the boarding schools! Despite the policy of termination! Our "old ways" are still here!

Our elders have retained this knowledge; our language; our relationship with nature; our medicines; our ceremonies. All those things the Creator gave us, the "the red nation", are carried in the hearts and minds of our grandmothers and grandfathers. They are waiting. They want to pass it on to you, your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Our elders want you to know it is not just the "old ways", but that it is the Creator's way. The Creator made us Indian people a good way to live; He gave us a way of life. This is truly what we call the "old ways"

New Gorjuss tag! Winter Dreams

2009-01-04T21:55:00.000-08:00

My Creative Corner

Gorjuss....Closest to my heart

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Gorjuss tag....Memory... Snag only

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Gorjuss tag..Make a wish....

New Gorjuss tag

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New Gorjuss girl tag offer

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New Tag offer.....Shake your Groove thing......

Link to my other blog .....

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Long time, no write!

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Kreativ Blogger Award

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New Hello & hugs scroll set

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second part of my update

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Summery tag

Hello & Hugs scroll set

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Gorjuss Easter tag

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Created a new blog. Everyone go check it out :)

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Look how cool blog awards

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Pics part 2

Pics part 1

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